The NDA government in Bihar released the allocation of 18 cabinet portfolios on Friday, marking a major shift in the Nitish Kumar–led administration.
For the first time in nearly two decades, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will not handle the home department.
The Home Ministry has been assigned to Samrat Chaudhary, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s legislative party leader. The department was traditionally held by Nitish Kumar in the previous NDA governments.
BJP’s Vijay Kumar Sinha, the deputy leader in the Assembly, has been given the Department of Revenue and Land Reforms.
Mangal Pandey has retained the Health Ministry in the new cabinet, while state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal will lead the Department of Industries.
The cabinet includes ministers from the BJP, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (RV), the Hindustan Awaam Morcha, and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha. The LJP(RV) has been allotted the Sugarcane Industry and Public Health Engineering Departments. The HAM has received Water Resources, and the RLM has been given the Panchayati Raj portfolio.
The list of Janata Dal (United) ministers and their portfolios has not yet been released. Several major departments, including Finance and Transport, also remain undisclosed.
Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar chief minister for the 10th time on Thursday. Along with him, 26 ministers took oath — 14 from the BJP, 8 from the JDU, 2 from the LJP(RV), 1 from the HAM, and 1 from the RLM. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J. P. Nadda, and other senior NDA leaders.