None from allies BJP or Lok Janshakti Party offered a berth; Bihar CM takes caste composition into consideration

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday expanded his Cabinet with the induction of eight new faces — all from his Janata Dal (United).

Members of allies, the BJP and the LJP, were not accommodated.

Mr. Kumar later said that the BJP was offered a berth but the party was not too keen.

Deputy Chief Minister and BJP senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the party had opted out for now.

Five of the new Ministers are MLAs, while three are MLCs.

They were sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at the Raj Bhavan.

The new Ministers are Sanjay Jha, Neeraj Kumar, Shyam Rajak, Bima Bharti, Ashok Chaudhury, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Laxmeshwar Rai and Ram Sevak Singh.

Mr. Sanjay Jha, a long-time confidant of Mr. Kumar, was recently elected as an MLC.

The State BJP leaders were present at the swearing-in ceremony, but refused to make any comment on why they were denied berths.

Earlier, refusing to accept any “symbolic representation,” instead of “proportional representation” in the Union Cabinet, Mr. Kumar had told journalists that in future too his party would not join the Modi government. Mr. Kumar appeared upset over the BJP’s stand of giving only one berth to it.

Three seats in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet fell vacant following the election of JD(U) ministers to the Lok Sabha. The three Ministers who were elected to the Lower House included Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Disaster Management Minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav and LJP’s Bihar unit chief and Animal and Fisheries Resources Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.

One post fell vacant last year after Manju Verma resigned as Social Welfare Minister in the wake of the Muzaffarpur shelter case.

(With inputs from PTI)