Patna, April 13
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expanded his 28-month-long ministry, inducting 19 new faces after dropping 10 of his ministerial colleagues, eight of the JD(U) and two of the BJP.
Seventeen ministers of the cabinet rank and two of the state rank were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor R.S. Gavai at Rajbhavan. Of the 17 cabinet ministers, earlier during the day, 15 cabinet and 10 ministers of state with independent charge resigned ostensibly to give Kumar a free hand in choosing his new council of ministers.
The dropped BJP ministers were health minister Chandra Mohan Rai and arts and culture minister Janardan Singh Sirgriwal.
The eight JD(U) ministers were dropped mostly for unsatisfactory performance, a senior party functionary said. Of the 17 cabinet
ministers sworn-in, Renu Devi, Giriraj Singh, Bhola Prasad Singh, Ramnarayan Mandal and Awadhesh
Narain Singh are from the BJP, while Nagmani, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Chedi Paswan, Dinesh Prasad, Damodar Rawat, Ramanandan Singh, Harinarayan Singh, Shahid Ali Khan, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Rampravesh Rai and Hari Prasad Sao from the JD(U).
Jamshed Ashraf of the JD(U) and Vyasdeo Prasad of the BJP took oath as ministers of state.
— PTI
