Bihar's New NDA Government Unveils Portfolios, Nitish Kumar Retains Home Department

The portfolios of the newly formed NDA government in Bihar were announced on Saturday, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar keeping the Home department. Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad has been allocated the Finance, Health and Sports departments, while another Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi has been given the Agriculture department.Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has been given the Water Resources department and Bijendra Prasad Yadav has been given the Energy department. Dr. Prem Kumar has been given the Tourism and Cooperative departments, while Shravan Kumar has been given the Rural Development department.

Santosh Suman, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, has been given the SC-ST and Information departments.The newly formed NDA government under the leadership of Kumar will face a vote of confidence on February 12, the first day of the budget session.Kumar, the president of the Janata Dal (United), was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the ninth time on January 28. Kumar broke ties with the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition 'India' group to form a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The election of the new Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is also scheduled for February 12 and the state's economic survey will be presented on the same day.The new Speaker will be elected in place of Awadh Bihari Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The budget, which was earlier scheduled to be presented on February 12, will now be presented a day later. The session will conclude on March 1 after 11 working days.The budget session is likely to be stormy as the NDA has moved a no-confidence motion against the RJD Speaker, who has not resigned yet.

All eight ministers who were sworn in on Sunday were present. Apart from Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, BJP's Prem Kumar, JD(U)'s Bijendra Yadav, Shravan Kumar and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Hindustani Awam Morcha's Santosh Kumar Suman and Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh were sworn in as ministers on Sunday.

The names of BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain, Nitin Naveen, Rampreet Paswan, Janak Ram, Shreyasi Singh and JD(U) leaders Sunil Kumar Singh, Madan Sahni, Lesi Singh, Sheela Mandal, Jayant Raj, Ashok Chaudhary and Sanjay Jha are doing the rounds as possible candidates to be inducted into the Nitish Kumar cabinet.