New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar expanded its Cabinet on Thursday (May 7), with 32 Ministers taking the oath of office at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. The ceremony marked the formal induction of Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] chief Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, into the Samrat Choudhary-led administration.

Three ministers in the expanded cabinet are the sons of former Bihar chief ministers. Besides Nishant Kumar, Nitish Mishra, son of Jagannath Mishra, and Santosh Kumar Suman alias Santosh Manjhi, son of Jitan Ram Manjhi, were also administered the oath.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union health minister J.P. Nadda, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Nabin, JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, and several top NDA leaders attended the event.

Most ministers from the previous Nitish Kumar-led cabinet have been retained, though the list includes new entrants as well. From JD(U), Nishant Kumar, Shweta Gupta and Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Mandal have joined the cabinet. BJP's Mithlesh Tiwari is also one of the new faces.

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Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Mangal Pandey, who has held ministerial posts several times, was dropped along with party colleagues Surendra Mehta and Narayan Prasad. According to The Hindu, party sources have indicated that Pandey may be moved to a key organisational role ahead of assembly elections in other states.

The coalition now has 15 ministers from the BJP, 13 from JD (U), two from Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas, and one each from Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Choudhary and the two deputy chief ministers Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav were sworn in on April 15 at Lok Bhawan in Patna, days after Nitish Kumar took oath as a Rajya Sabha MP on April 10.

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