Bihar: First major expansion of Samrat Chaudhary government, new ministers will take oath in the presence of PM Modi.
Patna. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the cabinet expansion ceremony of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government in Bihar on Thursday. The state cabinet will be expanded in the presence of top leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). According to sources, Modi will reach Patna airport around 11:35 am and from there will go to Gandhi Maidan, where the function is to be held. The distance of the venue from the airport is about six kilometers.
“It will take about 30 minutes for the Prime Minister’s convoy to reach the venue from the airport,” a senior police officer said. Barricading has been done on both sides of the roads so that people can stand up and greet him.” The BJP is seeing this ceremony as an achievement of running the government under its leadership for the first time in Bihar.
The BJP took charge of power in this important state of the Hindi belt last month after the resignation of Janata Dal United (JDU) national president Nitish Kumar from the post of Chief Minister. BJP’s Bihar unit president Sanjay Saraogi said, “This is certainly a government event, but it is also an occasion of special significance for the party.” Therefore, we are also trying at our level to make the function a grand success.” A lot of enthusiasm is being seen among the BJP workers.
Last month, party leader Samrat Chaudhary was sworn in as Chief Minister in a relatively simple ceremony, but now with the growing political strength of the BJP in West Bengal and the strengthening of the party’s hold in Assam, the enthusiasm of the workers has increased further. However, party sources admitted that intermittent rains and storms in Patna for the last few days remain a matter of concern for the celebrations. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President Nitin Naveen and Organization General Secretary BL Santosh are present in Patna since Wednesday night.
Before the ceremony, many Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states including Union Minister Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda are also likely to arrive. Among NDA allies, Nitish Kumar can also be present at the function. His son Nishant Kumar has agreed to join the Samrat Chaudhary government. Nitish Kumar, who was the Chief Minister for the longest time in Bihar, had left the post of Chief Minister to go to Rajya Sabha. His 45-year-old son, who was away from politics till now, has decided to enter public life on the request of JDU workers.
Workers feared that JDU’s future might be affected after the party chief leaves power. Union Minister Chirag Paswan is also likely to attend the ceremony. His party Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had got two ministerial berths in the previous Nitish cabinet, but is still awaiting representation in the new BJP-led government. At present there are only two ministers in the state government – senior JDU leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav who has been made the Deputy Chief Minister. This is being seen as a change in the balance of power.
Earlier, in the Nitish Kumar government, Samrat Chaudhary and senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha were the Deputy Chief Ministers. According to the Constitution, not more than 15 percent of the ministers of the total membership of the state assembly can be included in the cabinet. There are 243 members in the Bihar Assembly, so the state Council of Ministers can have a maximum of 36 members. But sources reveal that at present there will be 31 ministers.
The BJP and JDU, which have 174 seats among the NDA’s 202 MLAs, are likely to get the largest share in the expanded cabinet. Apart from LJP (Ram Vilas), Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party ‘Hum’ and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLMO) are also hoping to get representation as per their strength.
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