Bihar Cabinet expansion on Tuesday: RJD to get lion's share; Nitish likely to retain Home, Tejashwi may keep Finance

The Bihar Cabinet expansion is likely to take place on Tuesday after the Mahagathbandhan allies agreed on a power-sharing formula, according to which the RJD may get the lion’s share of 15 ministries, JD(U) 12 ministerial berths and the Congress two. 

The JD(U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to retain most of its ministers, barring one or two, and the RJD’s appointments reflecting an attempt to move beyond the party’s Muslim-Yadav (MY) core constituency and match its “A to Z” slogan on the politics of assimilation.  

According to The Indian Express, the JD(U) may also seek a ministerial berth for Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh from Chakai in Jamui district who was science and technology in the previous Cabinet. The Bihar Cabinet can have a total of 36 ministers. 

The ceremony will be held around 11.30 am at the Raj Bhavan. Kumar and his deputy -- RJD's Tejashwi Yadav -- took oath on August 10.

The JD(U) is likely to keep the portfolios of Home, Vigilance, Education, Building Construction, Minority Affairs, Social Welfare and Water Resources. Departments such as Finance, Commercial Taxes, Health, Road Construction, Disaster Management, and Environment and Forest. 

From the RJD camp, the list of probable ministers includes Tej Pratap Yadav, Surendra Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Bhai Virendra, Lalit Yadav, Anita Devi, Kumar Sarvjeet, Alok Mehta, Mohammed Shamim, Shahnawaz Alam, Sudhakar Singh, and Samir Mahaseth or Sanjay Gupta, reports The Indian Express.

Nitish Kumar had claimed that the ruling alliance has the support of 164 MLAs and an Independent legislator. The strength of the Bihar legislative assembly is 243. Reports suggest that the new Speaker of the Assembly will be from RJD. The names of Awadh Bihari Choudhary and Alok Kumar Mehta are doing the rounds for the Speaker's post. 

The Mahagathbandhan government will go for a floor test on August 24. A special session of the legislative assembly has been convened for two days. A new Speaker has to be elected by the legislators of the ruling alliance. The Mahagathbandhan legislators have also moved a 'no trust' motion against the incumbent government.

Kumar had taken oath as the CM for a record eighth time last Wednesday, a day after he snapped ties with the BJP and joined hands with the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan. The Grand Alliance at present comprises seven parties -- JD(U), RJD, CPIML (L), CPI, CPI(M) and HAM.