New Delhi: The much-awaited Bihar cabinet expansion will take place Tuesday, with senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain likely to land a ministerial berth.
Apart from him, other BJP names expected to be part of the cabinet include Nitin Nabin, Samrath Chaudhary, Sanjeev Chaurasia, Nitish Mishra, Bhagirathi Devi and Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu, among others.
At present, Bihar has 15 ministers, including the chief minister. In the House of 243 MLAs, the cabinet can have 36 ministers.
“The names have been finalised and important portfolios will be given to the BJP leaders,” a senior Bihar BJP leader said.
“There is complete consensus on the issue with the JD(U) leaders. These things take time and can’t be rushed.”
From the JD(U), names in the race include Raj Kumar Singh, Sanjay Jha, Sumit Singh, among others.
Nitish had sought union ministry berths
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, sources said, has not just demanded equal representation in the state cabinet, the expansion of which has been on hold for over two months now, but bargained hard for union ministry berths for his JD(U).
When the new NDA government in Bihar took oath on 16 November last year, Nitish had said the cabinet expansion would happen soon.
In December, Nitish had said that the delay was due to the BJP, something which he reiterated Monday.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Patna Monday, Nitish said the cabinet expansion would take place as soon as he received the BJP list.
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