Bihar CM Nitish Kumar brushes aside BJP MLA's ire over Cabinet picks, passes buck to ally

Responding to MLA Gyanendra Singh Gyanu's concerns about the Cabinet expansion, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday made it clear that the buck stops with BJP. After being denied a Cabinet berth, Gyanu told Republic TV that people were criminal antecedents were being made Ministers. Accusing some state BJP leaders of keeping PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the dark, the Badh legislator claimed that the Cabinet has been filled mostly with leaders belonging to certain castes.

Moreover, he alleged that South Bihar has been deprived of its share of Cabinet Ministers. Maintaining that the respective constituents in an alliance decide the picks for a Cabinet berth, Kumar said that no one else can take a call on the matter. He also made it clear that he had no role in the selection of 9 Ministers who were sworn-in on Tuesday from the BJP quota. 

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Speaking to Republic TV, BJP MLA Gyanendra Singh Gyanu remarked, "I am not worried about not becoming a minister, but what I am worried about is while forming the cabinet, the eligibilities were not looked into. People with criminal antecedents are being made ministers. The Bihar political leaders kept the Prime Minister and Home Minister in the dark, fooled the party (BJP), and included all the wrong leaders into the cabinet. Most of them belong to Upper Castes, and the person who did not get too many votes has been made the Deputy Chief Minister. These people have manipulated everyone and have filled the cabinet with just Yadavs and Banias."

Cabinet expansion in Bihar

A day earlier, 17 more Ministers including 8 from JD(U) were inducted in the Bihar Cabinet at the Raj Bhavan in Patna in the presence of CM Nitish Kumar. As part of the latest Cabinet expansion, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Nitin Nabin, Pramod Kumar, late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's cousin Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu, Samrat Choudhary, Janak Ram, Alok Ranjan Jha, Subhash Singh and Narayan Prasad were sworn-in from the BJP's quota. A former MP, Janak Ram is not a member of any House of the Bihar Legislature as of now.

On the other hand, the new JD(U) Ministers include Sanjay Jha, Shravan Kumar,  Leshi Singh, Jayant Raj, Jama Khan, Sumit Singh, Sunil Kumar and Madan Sahni. As per the new portfolio allocation, the CM is in charge of the Home Department while Tarkishore Prasad has retained Finance. The Panchayati Raj portfolio will now be handled by Samrat Choudhary instead of Renu Devi. BSP-turned-JD(U) legislator Jama Khan has been allocated the Minority Affairs portfolio. Furthermore, former Union Minister and BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain has been appointed as the Industry Minister. Meanwhile, Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu and Mangal Pandey will serve as the Environment and Health Minister respectively. 

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