Bihar: Eight JDU leaders take oath as ministers as Nitish expands cabinet today

Post cabinet expansion, Nitish Kumar said:"Vacancies from JDU quota in the cabinet were empty so JDU leaders were inducted, there is no issue with BJP, everything is fine."

New Delhi: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar expanded his council of ministers today, with eight JDU leaders taking oath as ministers in the Bihar cabinet. JDU leaders Ashok Chaudhary, Shyam Rajak, L Prasad, Beema Bharti, Ram Sevak Singh, Sanjay Jha, Neeraj Kumar and Narendra Narayan Yadav took oath as ministers today. Earlier today, Kumar had met Governor Lalji Tandon and had handed over the names of leaders who would would be inducted in the Bihar government. No leader from JDU’s ally BJP was inducted in the cabinet today. The ministers were administered oath by the Governor in presence of CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. Post cabinet expansion, Nitish Kumar said:"Vacancies from JDU quota in the cabinet were empty so JDU leaders were inducted, there is no issue with BJP, everything is fine." In Bihar, there were 25 ministers in the Nitish’s cabinet, while the number can go up to 36. 11 ministerial positions were vacant in the state, out of which eight have been filled by JDU today. Three slots were vacated by ministers, who have been elected to the Lok Sabha, while one was vacated when social welfare minister Manju Verma resigned after she was allegedly embroiled in Muzaffarpur shelter house case. Of the eight ministers inducted today, four are first-timers in a council of ministers, while four have had held portfolios earlier. Caste equation in induction of new ministers: Of the 8 ministers who took oath today, 6 come from backward castes, while two are from general category. JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar and Sanjay Jha belong to general category, while the rest are from backward, dalit and extremely backward castes. Shyam Rajak used to be an RJD leader though he joined the JDU later and was even a member of Kumar's ministry earlier. Similarly, Ashok Chaudhary, former Bihar unit Congress chief, was a minister in JDU-RJD-Congress coalition government in 2015. He too joined the JDU later. Nitish rejects Shah’s proposal of single berth to JDU in Union cabinet: The JDU on Thursday decided to not be a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet, saying it would not accept the BJP's offer of only one ministerial berth. "They (BJP) wanted only one person from JD(U) in the Cabinet. So, it would have been just symbolic participation. We informed them that we do not need it (Cabinet berth)," Kumar had said. The JDU chief, who later attended Modi's swearing-in ceremony, said: "It is not a big issue. We are fully in the NDA and are not upset at all. We are working together. There is no confusion." In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, JDU won 16 seats in Bihar, while the BJP bagged 17. Despite being a part of the NDA, the party was also not part of the last Central government. The BJP, however, is sharing power in Bihar with its leader Sushil Kumar Modi as the state's Deputy Chief Minister.