Nitish Inducts 8 JD-U Members in Cabinet, Leaves out BJP

TIL Desk/National/Patna/ Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has inducted eight JD-U MLAs as Cabinet Ministers, leaving out his ally the BJP and fuelling speculation of a rift between the two parties.

The Cabinet expansion came two days after the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief decided that his party won’t join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government because it was offered just one seat — a “symbolic” representation.

There are now 33 Ministers in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet, up from 25. The newly appointed Ministers are Ashok Coudhary, Shyam Rajak, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Sanjay Jha, Ramsewak Singh, Lakshmeshwar Rai, Neeraj Kumar and Bima Bharti. Bima Bharti is the only woman.

Governor Lalji Tandon administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Ministers at a simple ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan. Five of the eight are first-time Ministers. Nitish Kumar clarified that there was no split in the NDA. “BJP has decided that induction of their quota in the Cabinet would be done later,” he said.