Bihar portfolio allocation: Nitish Kumar retains Home department; Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad gets Finance

A day after taking oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term, Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar on November 17 announced the Cabinet allocation and retained the Home Department, General Administration and Vigilance.

One of the two deputy CMs of the state, Tarkishore Prasad, was handed the charge of Finance and Urban Development while the other deputy CM, Renu Devi, got Panchayati Raj, Backward Caste Upliftment and Industry.

Both the Deputy CMs, like Sushil Kumar Modi, belong to the BJP which has returned with a greater tally in the assembly elections than Kumar's JD(U) and the same reflects in the composition of the new cabinet.

Vikassheel Insaan Party's Mukesh Sahni was given the charge of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries while Mangal Pandey of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got Health and Arts and Culture. Senior JD(U) leader Bijendra Yadav was handed charge of Energy, Planning and Food and Consumer Affairs.

The previous road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav, another BJP veteran who was not a made a minister this time, is expected to be made the Speaker during the assembly session next week.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, a JD(U) leader who was the Speaker in the previous assembly, has been given parliamentary affairs, rural works, rural development, water resources and information and public relations department.

Santosh Kumar Suman, whose father Jitan Ram Manjhi, a former chief minister who heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha, has been given minor water resources and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Welfare.

Kumar took oath as Bihar CM on November 16, days after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the cliffhanger Bihar assembly elections by bagging 125 seats in the 243-member house.

In all, 15 NDA leaders including the chief minister were sworn in during the ceremony attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda.

The newly-instated ministers who took oath included six JD(U) leaders including Nitish Kumar and seven members, including the two deputy chief ministers, of the BJP. The two allies, VIP and Hindustani Awami Morcha, got one ministerial berth each in the state cabinet for now.