Patna, Nov 17 (Agency) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today distributed portfolios among his cabinet colleagues, a day after new NDA government led by him was administered oath by Bihar Governor Fagu Chauhan. Apart from Chief Minister Mr Kumar, 14 other ministers were administered oath by Governor at a simple ceremony organised in Raj Bhavan last evening. Of the 14 ministers, seven are from BJP, five from JD(U), one each from HAM and VIP.
Portfolios allotted to ministers of the new government including Chief Minister Mr Kumar, as follows:
Nitish Kumar (JDU)- Chief Minister, Home, General Administration, Vigilance, Cabinet Secretariat and all other departments which are not allotted to any minister. Tarkishore Prasad (BJP)- Deputy Chief Minister, Finance, Commercial Taxes, Environment and Forest, Information Technology (IT) Disaster Management, Urban Development and Housing. Renu Devi (BJP) – Deputy Chief Minister, Panchayati Raj, Backward Caste Extremely Backward Classes(EBCs) Welfare, Industry. Vijay Choudhary JD(U) – Rural Works Department, Ruler Development Department, Water Resources, Information and Public Relation Departed (IPRD), Parliamentary Affairs. Bijendra Prasad YadavJD(U) – Energy, Prohibition, Food and Consumer Affairs, Excise and Planning and Development Department. Mewalal Choudhary JD(U) – Education. Ashok Choudhary JD (U) – Building Construction Department, Minority Welfare Department, Social Welfare and Information and Technology department. Sheela Mandal JD(U) – Transport, Mangal Pandey (BJP) – Health, Road Construction and Art, Culture and Youth department. Rampreet Paswan (BJP) – Public Health Engineering Department. Amarendra Pratap Singh (BJP) – Agriculture, Cooperative, Sugar Cane Industry department. Jivesh Mishra (BJP) – Tourism, Labour snd Mines. Ram Surat Rai (BJP) – Revenue, Law Department. Santosh Manjhi (HAM) – Minor irrigation, SC/ST welfare. Mukesh Sahni (VIP) – Animal Husbandry and Fishery. The NDA secured a majority in the October-November Assembly elections, winning 125 seats in the 243-member house. However, Nitish led JD(U)’s tally slipped to 43, while the BJP won 74 seats. Two smaller allies HAM(S) and VIP together won four seats each.