The eagerly awaited cabinet expansion of NDA's Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to occur next month. According to sources, JDU is preparing to fill its 6 vacant cabinet positions, aiming to balance social and ethnic equations in the state. Currently, there are 9 vacant ministerial seats in Nitish Kumar's cabinet: 6 for JDU and 3 for BJP.
The state's cabinet, headed by the Chief Minister, can comprise a maximum of 36 ministers. As per the NDA's formula for distributing ministerial portfolios among coalition partners, BJP's share includes 17, JDU 15 (including the CM), LJP 2, and both HAM and RLP 1 each. From this arrangement, BJP can appoint 3, while JDU 6 new ministers.
Sources indicate JDU intends to appoint Kushwaha and extremely backward class MLAs as ministers. Presently, JDU's Bijendra Prasad Yadav holds five departments, while Vijay Chaudhary, Shravan Kumar, and Sunil Kumar currently manage two each. BJP ministers Vijay Singh, Mangal Pandey, Nitin Naveen, and Arun Shankar Prasad also hold two departments each, making some departments available for new ministers.
JDU is open to introducing fresh faces. JDU sources deny efforts to attract MLAs from other parties for ministerial positions, asserting that it is unnecessary and undesirable for the party. With six months remaining for the Rajya Sabha elections and NDA's firm majority securing all five seats, external support seems currently redundant.
