Bihar's New Government: Nitish Kumar's 10th Oath as CM with 22 Ministers in NDA's Caste-Balanced Cabinet

Nitish Kumar will be taking the oath for the 10th time as Bihar Chief Minister tomorrow at a grand ceremony planned at Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

According to top sources within the NDA coalition, a total of 22 ministers are expected to be sworn in alongside Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the formation of the new government in Bihar.

The ministerial distribution reportedly includes nine representatives from the BJP, ten from JDU, and one each from Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awami Morcha, and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

From the BJP's allocation, potential ministers include Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha, Nitin Navin, Renu Devi, Mangal Pandey, Neeraj Bablu, Sanjay Sarawagi, Hari Sahni, and Rajnish Kumar. Eight of these nine leaders served as ministers in the previous administration, with Samrat Choudhary, former Deputy Chief Minister, now elected as the BJP's Assembly leader.

The BJP has carefully crafted its ministerial selections to maintain caste balance, including two Bhumihar leaders, two from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), and one representative each from the Brahman and Rajput communities, while also incorporating members from the Kayastha and Vaishya groups.

JDU's ministerial candidates likely include Vijay Choudhary, Shrawan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Zama Khan, Ratnesh Sada, Leshi Singh, Bijender Yadav, Shyam Rajak, Sunil Kumar and Damodar Rawat. Eight of these candidates previously served as ministers.

Similar to the BJP, JDU has also prioritized caste equations in their ministerial choices, featuring four Dalits and representation from Muslims, Yadavs, EBCs, Rajputs and Bhumihars.

Raju Tiwari, a Brahmin who serves as the state chief of Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas), may represent his party in the new cabinet. Additionally, Jitan Ram Manjhi's son Santosh Suman and Upendra Kushwaha's wife Snehlata Kushwaha are expected to be sworn in.

Tomorrow's ceremony will mark Nitish Kumar's tenth appointment as Bihar Chief Minister, following the NDA's decisive victory in the recent Assembly elections where they secured 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly. The event at Patna's Gandhi Maidan is being organized as a demonstration of NDA unity, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers from all BJP-governed states anticipated to attend.