Bihar Cabinet portfolios: Nitish Kumar keeps home, deputy Tarkishore Prasad gets finance

Commercial taxes, environment and forest, information technology, disaster management departments will also be handled by Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad, who belongs to the OBC.

Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan congratulates Nitish Kumar after taking oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar at Raj Bhawan in Patna (PTI)

Former assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of JD(U) has got the portfolios of rural engineering, rural development, water resources, parliamentary affairs and information and public relations. JD(U) leader Mewalal Choudhary will be the new education minister and Sheela Kumari the transport minister. JD(U)’s Bijendra Yadav was allocated energy, planning and food and consumer affairs portfolios.

Who is Renu Devi, Bihar’s first female Deputy CM? pic.twitter.com/8zmzONgfgv

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) November 17, 2020

BJP’s Mangal Pandey will return as Health minister and will also head the art and culture department. Agriculture, cooperatives and sugar cane will be handled by BJP’s Amrendra Pratap Singh while Scheduled Caste MLA from Rajnagar in Mithilanchal belt Rampreet Paswan will be the new public health engineering minister.

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Representing the upper caste, BJP’s Jiwesh Kumar will handle the tourism, mines and labour portfolios and OBC leader from Muzaffarpur Ram Surat Rai will be the new revenue and law minister.

VIP chief Mukesh Sahani, who lost by a narrow margin from Simri Bakhtiyarpur, will be in charge of animal husbandry and fishery department. As promised by the BJP earlier, he will be sent to the Upper House in the state. Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, got the minor irrigation and scheduled caste/scheduled tribe welfare portfolios.

Meanwhile, in its first meeting, the new cabinet headed by Nitish Kumar gave its nod to a five-day session of the bicameral Bihar legislature from November 23 to November 27.