7 From JDU, BJP & 1 Each From VIP, HAM To Get Ministerial Berths: All Eyes On Bihar Cabinet Formation

Today's oath-taking ceremony will also witness swearing-in of various other leaders from both JDU and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Nitish Kumar with Jitan Ram Manjhi, BJP State President and VIP Chief after meeting Governor Fagu Chauhan in Patna. (Image: PTI)

Patna: As Janata Dal United (JDU) chief and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader in Bihar Nitish Kumar is all set to take oath Chief Minister for the record fourth consecutive time today, speculations are rife over who all will be sworn-in along with Nitish in the new cabinet. As per reports, today's oath-taking ceremony will also witness swearing-in of various other leaders from both JDU and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Given its greater strength, the BJP indicated it would seek more portfolios in the Nitish Kumar government. There have also been speculations that the BJP, which has 74 MLAs against only 43 of JDU, was likely to insist on having a greater share in the council of ministers and have one of its members as the Speaker, a post which has been with the Kumars party ever since he took over a decade and a half ago. Meanwhile, BJP's newly-elected legislature party leader in Bihar, Tarkishore Prasad, who has been tipped as the new Deputy Chief Minister replacing Sushil Kumar Modi said that he will try to perform any duties entrusted to him by the party with full responsibility. Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), which is one of NDA's alliance partners in Bihar, stated that at least 16 to 17 ministers will take oath in today's swearing-in ceremony. According to sources, there will be seven ministers each from the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and one each from the Sahani's VIP and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha. Here's a list of tentative names that could be inducted in Bihar Assembly's new cabinet which will headed by CM-elect Nitish Kumar: BJP leaders in Nitish Cabinet Tarkishore Prasad, Renu Devi, Prem Kumar, Nitish Mishra, Nandkishore Yadav, Krishna Kumar, Vijay Sinha, Rana Randhir Singh, Pramod Kumar, Ramnarayan Mandal, Nitin Naveen, Samrat Chaudhary, Sanjeev Chaurasia JDU leaders in Nitish Cabinet Vijay Chaudhary, Bijendra Yadav, Shravan Kumar, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Lesi Singh, Maheshwar Hazari, Sanjay Jha, Ashok Chaudhary Apart from the aforementioned names, Santosh Majhi from Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) and Mukesh Saini from Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) may also be sworn-in as cabinet ministers today. Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan on Sunday invited Nitish Kumar to form the new government in Bihar after the latter went to the Raj Bhavan here to present a list of 125 NDA MLAs and stake his claim.