Nitish Kumar to expand cabinet with 8 JDU members today

BJP chief Amit Shah made repeated attempts to bring Nitish Kumar around to accepting his proposal for one berth in the Modi cabinet for the JD(U) but the Bihar chief minister spurned the offer insisting on "proportional representation" for his party. Kumar, who returned here on Friday from the national capital after attending the swearing-in ceremony of the Narendra Modi government, however, said there was no "unease" between the alliance partners and that the decision against joining the ministry was taken as the JD(U)'s presence there would have been merely "symbolic".