Power balance shifts as BJP secures most berths in new cabinet

Patna: Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Bihar chief minister for the 10th time on Thursday. But things have changed this time, as the BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 89 MLAs compared to 85 of Nitish’s JD(U).

Though nine ministerial posts are still vacant and are likely to be filled after Makar Sankranti, it is believed that the BJP leadership strongly pitched for itself in securing the highest number of ministers among the 27, including CM Nitish Kumar, who took oath in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and several Union ministers and chief ministers of 11 NDA-ruled states.


As the tussle with the JD(U) continued over the assembly speaker’s post till Wednesday night, the BJP is believed to have retained it. The BJP also had a win-win situation, as it retained the two deputy CMs amid reports that the JD(U) was not in favour.

Union home minister Amit Shah, who reached Patna on Wednesday night and finalised the names of BJP ministers, shared on X a picture of PM Modi holding CM Nitish’s hand at Gandhi Maidan. Shah congratulated the people of Bihar for giving a massive mandate to the NDA, which won 202 of the 243 seats in the Bihar assembly elections. “Today, lakhs of people from every corner of Bihar gathered at Gandhi Maidan in Patna to bless the NDA govt, indicating that this is a govt for the people of Bihar. Many congratulations to all the people of Bihar,” he posted on X.

The BJP, which had been the junior partner in the Nitish cabinet until now, has the highest number of 14 ministers sworn in, compared to only eight of the JD(U). The other NDA allies — LJP(RV) of Chirag Paswan got two seats, while HAM(S) of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha were given one each in the ministry sworn in on Thursday.

If the formula of six MLAs for one ministerial berth is applied, the BJP will get two more, while the JD(U) will get six and the LJP(RV) one from their quota of a maximum of 36 ministers. The BJP has won 89 seats, the JD(U) 85, the LJP(RV) 19, HAM(S) 5 and the RLM 4.

From the BJP, state party president Dilip Jaiswal, deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Mangal Pandey, Nitin Nabin, Ram Kripal Yadav, Sanjay Singh ‘Tiger’, Arun Shankar Prasad, Surendra Mehta, Narayan Prasad, Rama Nishad, Lakhendra Paswan, Shreyasi Singh and Pramod Kumar Chandravanshi took oath.

While the BJP retained Samrat, Vijay Sinha, Mangal and Nitin, it brought in 10 new faces as ministers, including two women MLAs – Shreyasi Singh and Rama Nishad. The other new BJP faces are Ram Kripal Yadav and Shreyasi. Sanjay Kumar Singh, a first-time MLA who defeated RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son and Janshakti Janata Dal chief Tej Pratap Yadav from Mahua, was sworn in as a minister, along with Sanjay Kumar from Bakhri from Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV).

The BJP made former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, a first-time MLA, a minister in the Nitish govt to send a message to the Yadav community, which is considered aligned with the RJD. The BJP also retained Nitin Nabin, the lone minister from the Kayastha community, which has remained loyal to the party. What surprised many was the absence of Nitish Mishra’s name from the BJP list, at a time when the focus of the new govt will be fast industrialisation in Bihar. Mishra was industries minister in the previous govt and played a key role in making Bihar an appealing destination for investors.

However, the name of Deepak Prakash from the RLM took everyone by surprise, as party chief Upendra Kushwaha preferred his son for his quota of one minister over his wife Snehlata Kushwaha, who has been elected from Sasaram. Deepak is not a member of either of the legislative houses and will need to become an MLC within six months.

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