Portfolios allocated in Bihar cabinet; CM Samrat retains Home, Nitish’s son Nishant gets health

Portfolios were allocated on Thursday in the Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who kept the crucial home department with himself, while debutant Nishant Kumar, son of JDU president Nitish Kumar, got health.

Portfolios were allocated on Thursday in the Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who kept the crucial home department with himself, while debutant Nishant Kumar, son of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, got health. According to a government notification issued hours after the cabinet expansion that took place in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, Choudhary has also retained portfolios like vigilance, cabinet secretariat, election, civil aviation and ''all other departments not allocated to anybody else''. Earlier, after Choudhary succeeded Nitish Kumar last month, becoming the first BJP leader to head a government in Bihar, speculations were rife that the JD(U) would insist on ''getting back'' the Home portfolio, which controls the state police. During his two-decade-long rule, Kumar had kept the Home portfolio with himself but yielded to the BJP's demand in November last year when it was allocated to Choudhary, who was then his deputy. Nishant Kumar, 45, who joined the JD(U) less than two months ago and is yet to become a member of the state legislature, has been given the opportunity to prove his mettle by the allocation of the health department. The department has, for past many years, been with former state BJP president Mangal Pandey, who was not included in the expanded cabinet, giving rise to speculations that he may be given a ''big responsibility'' in the party. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, a senior JD(U) leader, has retained water resources and parliamentary affairs while his party colleague and fellow Deputy CM Bijendra Prasad Yadav will continue to handle finance and commercial tax. Shrawon Kumar, a key aide of Nitish Kumar, has been given rural development and information and public relations department, while Leshi Singh, another confidant of the JD(U) supremo, has got building construction. Senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha, who was formerly a Deputy CM, has been given agriculture while the party's former state unit president Dilip Jaiswal has got revenue and land reforms. BJP's Shreyasi Singh, who was formerly an award-winning shooter, has got sports and industry while her party colleague Rama Nishad has been given Welfare of Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes department. Education is now likely to bear the BJP's stamp in the state with the department going to Mithilesh Tiwari, while his party colleague Sanjay Singh Tiger has got higher education and law. JD(U) leader Zama Khan, the sole Muslim in the 35-strong cabinet, has got minority affairs while his party colleague Madan Sahni has been given prohibition, a key portfolio in the dry state. Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Mandal, a former RJD MP who joined the JD(U) months ahead of last year's assembly polls, will handle power, while Ashok Choudhary, a former Congress heavyweight and one of the most trusted aides of Nitish Kumar since joining the JD(U) eight years ago, has been assigned food and consumer affairs. BJP's Dalit face in Bihar Lakhendra Paswan has got SC and ST welfare while Santosh Suman, the son of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the Hindustani Awam Morcha's representative in the cabinet, will look after minor irrigation. Ratnesh Sada and Sunil Kumar, both Dalit leaders from JD(U), have been assigned disaster management and rural works, respectively. JD(U) veteran Damodar Rawat and greenhorn Shweta Gupta, both of whom made it to the cabinet for the first time, have got transport and social welfare, respectively. Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan, both from Union minister Chirag Paswan's LJPRV, have been assigned public health engineering department and sugarcane, respectively. Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha's son Deepak Prakash, who is yet to be elected to the state legislature, has been given Panchayati Raj. BJP MLC Pramod Kumar Chandravanshi has got mining and geology and art and culture while his party colleague Kedar Prasad Gupta has been allocated tourism. The BJP has retained road construction department and it has been allocated to Kumar Shailendra while the party's Arun Shankar Prasad is in charge of labour resources and youth, employment and skill development. BJP's Nitish Mishra, who in the past won laurels by organising investment summits in his capacity as industry minister, will now take care of urban development and housing and Information Technology. Science, Technology and Technical Education have gone to JD(U) leader Sheela Mandal.