• Source:PTI
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Bihar Cabinet Expansion: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar welcomed seven additional members into his council of ministers on Wednesday, all from coalition partner BJP, bringing the total to 36, the maximum number permitted in the state's 243-member parliament. Governor Arif Mohammad Khan administered the oath of office to the assembly members in Bihar, where elections are scheduled for later this year. There is also a legislative council.

The new ministers include Jibesh Kumar, who was a part of the state Cabinet until August 2022, when the chief minister unexpectedly left the NDA, citing the BJP of attempting to "break" his JD(U). Other entrants include Sanjay Saraogi, a fifth-term MLA from Darbhanga, and Sunil Kumar, who had represented Bihar Sharif in the CM's pocket borough Nalanda three times on a JD(U) ticket before joining the BJP in 2015.

Raju Kumar Singh, the MLA from Sahebganj in Muzaffarpur, was also a previous JD(U) member. He won the seat in 2020 on a Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) platform formed by former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni.

The VIP had won altogether three seats but all the MLAs joined BJP two years ago after Sahni burnt his bridges with the saffron party, losing his cabinet berth in the bargain.

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Another notable face was Krishna Kumar Mantu, the MLA from Amnour in Saran district, who was recently in the news for organising a "Kurmi Chetna Rally" in Patna, with a view to reaching out to the powerful OBC community to which the JD(U) supremo belongs.

The remaining two inductees were Vijay Kumar Mandal, who represents Sikti in Araria district and Moti Lal Prasad, the MLA from Riga in Sitamarhi.
A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" here.

Two of the new ministers, Jibesh Kumar (Bhumihar) and Raju Kumar Singh (Rajput), belong to the upper castes, which make for a little over 10 per cent of the population in Bihar, but have been the BJP's most loyal voters over decades.

Besides, with the exception of Sunil Kumar, all hail from the region north of the Ganges, where the NDA has been performing better than the rival RJD, Congress and Left combine.

The development took place on a day state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, the former minister for revenue and landforms, gave up his cabinet berth citing the party's policy of "one person, one post".