Patna: In a major expansion of the Cabinet of Bihar’s first BJP-led government, JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant Kumar and 31 others took oath as ministers on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Altogether 32 leaders, drawn from all constituents of the five-party NDA in the state, were administered the oath of office by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain at a grand ceremony that was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister J P Nadda and BJP president Nitin Nabin.
Prominent inductees included Nishant Kumar, the son of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, who stepped down as chief minister last month to enter the Rajya Sabha.
Nishant, an engineer by profession, was earlier reluctant to join the cabinet but gave his consent after senior JD(U) leaders, including Sanjay Kumar Jha, Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, persuaded him to reconsider his decision.
Earlier, there was speculation that he might assume the role of Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister. He, however, refused to accept the post. Sources said Deputy Chief Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav would step down after Nishant decided to join the government.
Samrat Choudhary became the BJP’s first Chief Minister after his predecessor Nitish Kumar moved to the Rajya Sabha and stepped down from the post.
On April 15, Samrat had taken oath as Chief Minister, while JD(U) legislators Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav were sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers.
Among those who took oath as ministers were Vijay Kumar Sinha, Shrawan Kumar, Nishant Kumar, Dilip Jaiswal, Leshi Singh, Ram Kripal Yadav, Nitish Mishra, Damodar Rawat, Sanjay Singh “Tiger”, Ashok Chaudhary, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Arun Shankar Prasad, Madan Sahni, Santosh Kumar Suman, Rama Nishad, Ratnesh Sada, Kumar Shailendra, Sheila Kumari, Kedar Prasad Gupta, Lakhendra Kumar Roshan, Sunil Kumar, Shreyashi Singh, Mohd Zama Khan, Nandkishor Ram, Sailesh Kumar, Pramod Kumar, Shweta Gupta, Mithilesh Tiwari, Ramchandra Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Singh, Sanjay Kumar, and Deepak Prakash.
Governor Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd) administered the oath of office to the ministers.
