Bihar Cabinet expansion: Nitish Kumar likely to induct 5-6 new faces; BJP may get lion's share

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is likely to expand his Cabinet soon and may give ministerial berths to five or six new faces, News18 has reported quoting sources.

Earlier, BJP President Dilip Jaiswal resigned as the revenue minister in the Nitish Kumar government as buzz intensified over Cabinet expansion in the state.

"Today, following the principles of the Bharatiya Janata Party, I have resigned from the position of Revenue Minister and submitted my resignation," Jaiswal told reporters after submitting his resignation.

Jaiswal had said that he decided to quit to follow the "one person, one post" principle of BJP. He added that the Cabinet expansion is the prerogative of CM Nitish Kumar. The announcement comes just two days ahead of the Budget session in Bihar.

According to News18, the Cabinet expansion may take place before the Budget session which will commence on Friday. It will likely be the final Cabinet expansion before the assembly elections which are due by October-November.

Sources told News18 that among the five or six new faces who will be inducted into the Cabinet, at least four will be from BJP.

They added that MLAs like Sanjay Saraogi, Raju Singh, Awadhesh Patel, Jibesh Kumar and Anil Sharma could be given berths in the Nitish Cabinet.