Bihar Cabinet: RJD Likely To Get Major Share In New Govt, Nitish May Keep Home Ministry

He said that a tentative agreement had been reached over the new cabinet's makeup, which is expected to include "35 people or more" from Kumar's JD(U), the RJD, and the Congress.

Nitish Kumar & Tejashwi Yadav.

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The RJD may receive the majority of the departments that were previously under the control of the BJP, while JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar is likely to keep the crucial Home portfolio after being sworn in as Bihar's chief minister for an unprecedented eighth time on Wednesday, according to a highly-placed source, news agency PTI reported.

He said that a tentative agreement had been reached over the new cabinet's makeup, which is expected to include "35 people or more" from Kumar's JD(U), the RJD, and the Congress.

Kumar spoke on the phone with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the political climate, and opposition parties have praised him for joining the "anti-BJP camp."

The RJD will have the most ministers, in accordance with the broad strokes of the power-sharing formula, in acknowledgment of the fact that it has a greater number of MLAs.

Since Governor Phagu Chauhan has urgent obligations and must travel, only Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav have take the oath in the afternoon. The additional members would be sworn in at a later time during a cabinet enlargement procedure.

“The JD(U) is likely to have 13 ministers, the RJD has settled for 16. The Congress will be given four berths, while former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM will have one member in the cabinet,” the source was quoted by PTI in its report. 

With the exception of the Congress, which requires approval from the party high command in Delhi, a wide accord is claimed to have been achieved among the alliance partners on the names.

As many of the ministers from the previous cabinet, which was dissolved on Tuesday night as a result of a chief secretary's notification, are likely to be reinstated by the JD(U).

Kumar will be staying at Home, giving him more influence over the police. He is also expected to retain departments concerned with the welfare of severely backward castes and minorities, which are his core base.

The RJD has compiled a list of candidates and submitted it to party chief Lalu Prasad for approval. While Tejashwi Yadav has become the deputy CM, it is unclear which ministries he would retain.

According to the source, the in-principle decision to hand over BJP ministries to RJD suggests that it would receive several critical ones such as health and road development.

(With Inputs From PTI)