Expansion without BJP comes after JD-U chief decides his party won't join PM's new govt as it was offered just one seat - a 'symbolic' representation
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi at the swearing-in ceremony for the cabinet expansion. Pic/PTI
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday expanded his cabinet with the induction of eight new faces - all from his Janata Dal (United).
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Members of allies, the BJP and LJP, were left out from the cabinet expansion. Kumar, after the cabinet expansion, said the BJP was offered a berth in his cabinet, but the saffron party was not too keen.
Seconding Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP's senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the party was offered a ministerial berth, but it opted out of it for now. "Nitish Kumar has offered BJP to fill the vacant ministerial seat. The BJP decided to fill it in future," the deputy chief minister tweeted.
The new ministers - Narendra Narayan Yadav, Shyam Rajak, Ashok Choudhary, Bima Bharti, Sanjay Jha, Ram Sewak Singh, Niraj Kumar and Lakshmeshwar Rai - were administered the oath of office by Governor Lalji Tandon.
Some JD-U leaders said Kumar 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. Kumar, his supporters believe, has sent a message to the BJP that the JD-U is the "big brother" in Bihar and his face would be the face of the NDA in the next Assembly elections.
'All is well'
But Kumar negated the growing perception of a rift between the two allies. The JD(U), Kumar had said, decided against joining the Modi ministry as allies were not given "proportional representation" in the cabinet. Kumar told the media, "There were vacancies from the JD-U quota in the ministry. So, JDU leaders were inducted. There is no issue with the BJP. Everything is fine between the two parties."
Stalin hails Cong
DMK president M K Stalin greeted UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on her election as leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. "I extend my hearty greetings to respected Annai (mother) Sonia Gandhi," he said in a FB post. He said Congress was the "permanent guarantee for pluralism, secularism, social justice and equality enshrined in the Constitution".
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