Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, following the recent expansion of his cabinet, has allocated portfolios to the ministers of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Retaining the Home and General Administration departments for himself, Nitish Kumar has entrusted Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary with the Finance and Commercial department portfolios.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha, hailing from the BJP, has been assigned the Road Construction, Mines and Geology, as well as Art, Culture & Youth departments, as per a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat department.
The cabinet expansion saw Nitish Kumar inducting 21 new ministers, bringing the total strength of his ministry to 30, just six short of the constitutional limit of 36 for the state.
Key allocations include:
– BJP’s Prem Kumar: Cooperative and Environment, Forest and Climate Change departments.
– Bijendra Prasad Yadav: Energy and Planning & Development departments.
– Vijay Kumar Chaudhary: Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs departments.
– Shrawan Kumar (JD(U)): Rural Development department.
– Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM): Information Technology, Minor Water Resources, and Disaster Management departments.
– Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent MLA): Science and Technology department.
– Renu Devi (BJP): Animal & Fisheries Resources department.
– Mangal Pandey: Health and Agriculture.
– Neeraj Kumar Singh: Public Health Engineering Department.
– Ashok Choudhary: Rural Works.
– Lesi Singh: Food and Consumer Protection.
– Madan Sahni: Social Welfare.
– Nitish Mishra: Industry and Tourism.
– Nitin Nabin: Urban Development & Housing and Law.
– Dilip Kuma Jaiswal: Revenue and Land Reforms.
– Maheshwar Hazari: Information & Public Relations department.
– Sheila Kumari: Transport.
– Sunil Kumar: Education.
– Janak Ram: SC & ST Welfare.
– Hari Sahni: BC & EBC Welfare.
– Jayant Raj: Building Construction.
This comprehensive allocation of portfolios underscores Nitish Kumar’s commitment to effective governance and inclusive development in Bihar.