Analysis of Nitish Kumar’s new Bihar cabinet

Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the 10th time. On Thursday, 26 other ministers were also sworn in. Bihar may have a total of 36 ministers, but only 27, including the Chief Minister, have taken oath. This means that nine ministerial positions are currently vacant and may be added later. Ministers from all five NDA alliance parties in Nitish’s current cabinet are represented by the BJP, JDU, Lok Janshakti Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

BJP has the highest number of ministers with 14. Besides Nitish Kumar, eight ministers are also from the JD(U), meaning there are a total of nine JD(U) leaders in the cabinet. Chirag Paswan’s party LJP has two ministers. Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha’s parties have one minister each.

Nepotism has also found its way into Nitish Kumar’s cabinet. Women’s participation in Nitish’s cabinet is around 10 percent. Only three of the 27 ministers are women, and political analysts say Nitish Kumar won the elections solely on the basis of women’s votes. Among the women ministers, Leshi Singh is from JDU, while Rama Nishad and Shreyasi Singh are from BJP quota. Shreyasi Singh is a famous bowler and won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. Second-time MLA Shreyasi Singh is also the youngest minister.

If we talk about the richest ministers in Nitish’s cabinet, Rama Nishad, who is a minister from the BJP quota, is the richest. He owns movable and immovable properties worth approximately Rs 32 crore. Vijay Sinha and Samrat Chaudhary are also among the millionaire ministers. The minister with the least assets is LJP’s Sanjay Paswan, who has assets worth only Rs 22 lakh. CM Kumar’s total assets are Rs 1.64 crore. He has only 60,811 rupees in his bank account and owns only one car.

Talking about criminal cases, nine ministers in Nitish’s new cabinet are facing criminal charges. Of these, Nitin Naveen of the BJP has the highest number of cases with five cases. The caste equations in Nitish’s cabinet are also important to consider as maintaining proper caste harmony is said to be crucial to winning elections and running a government in Bihar. Nitish’s new cabinet has made every effort to maintain a caste-based balance.

This time, Nitish’s cabinet includes five Dalits and four Rajputs, three each from the Kushwaha and Vaishya communities, and two each from the Yadav, Kurmi, Nishad and Bhumihar communities. Brahmins, Kayasthas, Chandravanshis and Muslims have one minister each. Brahmins, Kayasthas, Chandravanshis and Muslims have one minister each.

According to caste classification, the OBC community has the highest number of ministers at ten, followed by eight from upper caste, five from Dalit and three from EBC (Extremely Backward Classes). There is only one minister from the Muslim community. There are three ministers named Sanjay in Nitish’s cabinet. One is from BJP and two are from LJP. The similarity of names often causes confusion.