BJP s Shahnawaz among 17 inducted into Nitish cabinet; gets industries portfolio

The much awaited expansion of theNitish Kumar cabinet in Bihar took place on Tuesday with theinduction of 17 members, including Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, thehigh-profile Muslim face of the BJP which walked away with thelions share.

The former Union minister and party national spokesman,who was the first to be administered oath of office byGovernor Phagu Chauhan, has been given the industriesportfolio, according to a communication issued by the RajBhavan later in the day.

Hussain, a three-term Lok Sabha member who got elected tothe state legislative council last month in a surprise move bythe BJP, was among nine inductees from the party which now has20 members in the state cabinet.

The Chief Ministers JD(U), which has suffered diminutionin clout because of its poor performance in assembly polls,settled for eight and has been left with 12 members in thecabinet.

As per norms, the state cabinet can have up to 36 membersincluding the chief minister. With the expansion its strengthhas risen to 34.

One member each was inducted from the quotas of smallerallies Hindustani Awam Morcha and Vikassheel Insaan Party(VIP) when the cabinet was formed in November last.

Other BJP leaders who took oath were Nitin Nabin, SamratChaudhary, Neeraj Kumar Singh ''Bablu'', Janak Ram, SubhashSingh, Alok Ranjan Jha and Narayan Prasad.

Nabin, a former Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha state chiefwho is representing Bankipur seat in Patna for the fourthconsecutive term,has been given important road constructionportfolio, held in the previous government by his senior partycolleague Nand Kishore Yadav who has been dropped this time inline with a perceived generational shift in the state BJP.

Nabin had defeated Congress candidate Luv Sinha, son ofactor-politician Shatrughan Sinha in the recent state polls.

The JD(U) gave preference to experienced hands though therewere also a handful of debutants, including Zama Khan who gotelected on a BSP ticket but joined the party recently, andIndependent MLA Sumit Singh who has pledged full support tothe chief minister.

Khan has been, predictably, given minority affairs portfoliowhile Singh, the scion of an influential political family inJamui district, has been allocated science and technology.

Others from the JD(U) who took oath included Sanjay Jhaand Shravan Kumar, both known to be trusted aides of the chiefminister who held key portfolios in the previous government.

Jha has returned as the minister for water resources whoshall hold the additional charge of Information and PublicRelations Department.

Shravan Kumar, who belongs to the same district and casteas the chief minister, has got rural development, one of themany important portfolios he held in the previous government.

JD(U) leaders Madan Sahni and Lesi Singh also returned asministers. Sunil Kumar, a former IPS officer who joined theJD(U) last year shortly after retiring from DG rank, has beenmade minister for prohibition and excise.

He will be expected to make use of his administrativeskills to effectively enforce the ban on liquor announced sixyears ago.

Jayant Raj, a 35-year-old who is among the youngest partyMLAs, has got rural works department.

Lesi Singhs induction has raised the number of women inthe cabinet to three. Earlier, BJPs Renu Devi and JD(U)sSheela Mandal had been sworn in and the former was elevated asa Deputy CM.

The NDA had been facing flak from the opposition over theabsence of a Muslim in the cabinet. With the induction ofHussain and Khan, it now has ammunition in its armour tocounter the charge.

Hours after swearing-in of the new ministers, a meeting ofthe state cabinet chaired by the chief minister took placehere in which six proposals of different departments wereapproved.