Nitish Kumar to expand Bihar cabinet today

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is all set to expand his cabinet on Tuesday.

The recently elected members of the state legislative council (MLC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shahnawaz Hussain and Vikassheel Insaan Party's Mukesh Sahni are expected to get ministerial berths in today's cabinet expansion.

At present, Bihar has 15 ministers, including the chief minister. In the House of 243 MLAs, the cabinet can have 36 ministers.

On November 16, Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term at a ceremony here in which saw attendance by Union Home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda.

Kumar Janata Dal (United) (JD-U)] formed the government under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Hindust Awam Morcha (HAM).

BJP leaders Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were also sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, replacing Sushil Kumar Modi who had been Nitish Kumar's deputy for 15 years.

Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office to Kumar, along with a 14-member council of ministers.

The NDA has secured a 125-seat majority in the 243-seat strong Bihar Legislative Assembly of which BJP won on 74 seats, JD(U) on 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats while the Congress only won 19 seats.

( With inputs from ANI )