Shahnawaz, Neeraj Singh get ministerial berths in Nitish govt

Patna, Feb 9 In the first cabinet expansion after Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister again in November last year, 17 legislators were sworn in as ministers by Governor Fagu Chauhan on Tuesday.

The 17 ministers include 10 from the Bharatiya Janata Party, six from the Janata Dal United (JDU) and one Independent candidate who has given support to the JDU.

The 10 newly inducted ministers from the BJP include MLC Shahnawaz Hussain, late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's brother Neeraj Kumar Babloo, Nitin Naveen, Samrat Chaudhary, Subhash Singh, Janak Ram, Alok Ranjan Jha, Narayan Prasad, Pramod Kumar and Sunil Kumar. From the JDU side there was Leshi Singh, Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni, Shrawan Kumar, Jayant Raj and Jama Khan, who recently joined the JDU quitting the BSP.

Independent candidate Sumit Singh, who has supported the JDU, has also been given a ministerial post.

Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) didn't find any place in the cabinet expansion.

Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister on November 16, 2020 with 14 ministers of which seven were from the BJP, five from the JDU and one each from the VIP and HAM.

( With inputs from IANS )