Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is set to expand his cabinet on Thursday, inducting 31 members, including Nishant Kumar, son of former chief minister Nitish Kumar.
The grand ceremony is being held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance. Top leaders such as Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, and national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh have already arrived in the city. Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Jagat Prakash Nadda, along with chief ministers from BJP-ruled states, are also expected to attend. The event is being seen as a major celebration for the party after leading a government for the first time in Bihar.
“It is, indeed, a government function. But the occasion is of special importance to the party, and we are making every effort to ensure the ceremony is a grand success,” said BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal.
Nishant Kumar, 45, joined JD(U) in March, shortly after his father filed nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections—a move widely viewed as part of the party’s ongoing leadership transition. While there were earlier speculations that he might not take a ministerial role, Nishant agreed to join the cabinet, considering the wishes of party leaders and workers, PTI reported.
On May 3, Nishant began his “Sadbhav Yatra” (Goodwill Tour) from Valmiki Nagar in West Champaran district, a location historically significant as the starting point for several of Nitish Kumar’s own political yatras during his nearly two-decade tenure as chief minister.
The other allies of the BJP—Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)—are also likely to get representation in the expanded cabinet.
Probable MLAs from BJP to take oath include Ram Kripal Yadav, Kedar Gupta, Nitish Mishra, Mithlesh Tiwari, Rama Nishad, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Dilip Jaiswal, Pramod Chandranvanshi, Lakhwinder Paswan, Sanjay Tiger, Engineer Kumar Shalendra, Nand Kishor Ram, Ramachandra Prasad, Arun Prasad, and Shreyashi Singh.
From JD(U), along with Nishant Kumar, Shravan Kumar, Madan Sahni, Lacey Singh, Shweta Gupta, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Damodar Rawat, Bulo Mandal, Sunil Kumar, Sheila Mandal, Ratnesh Sada, Jama Khan, and Ashok Chowdhury are likely to be sworn in.
From LJP, Sanjay Paswan and Sanjay Singh are expected to join the cabinet.