Patna, June 2
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today inducted eight JD-U MLAs as Cabinet ministers, leaving out ally 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 would not 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 Cabinet, up from 25. The newly appointed ministers are Ashok Choudhary, Shyam Rajak, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Sanjay Jha, Ramsewak Singh, Lakshmeshwar Rai, Neeraj Kumar and Bima Bharti. Bharti is the only woman.
Governor Lalji Tandon administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. Five of the eight are first-time ministers.
Nitish Kumar clarified that there was no split in the NDA. “The BJP has decided that induction of their quota in the Cabinet will be done later,” he said.
But some JD-U leaders said the CM was upset by the way the BJP had offered “symbolic representation” in the Modi government though the JD-U won 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats it contested.
Nitish Kumar, his supporters believe, has sent a message to the BJP that the JD-U is the “big brother” in Bihar and he would be the face of the NDA in the next Assembly elections.
BJP leaders, however, tried to downplay the development. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said there was no dispute over the Cabinet expansion. He claimed Nitish had offered the BJP to fill the ministerial berths, but the BJP decided to wait for now. — TNS/IANS
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/30Yy58h
via Today’s News Headlines
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