5 Muslim ministers take oath in Nitish Kumar cabinet on Tuesday
The number of Muslims in the new cabinet is five, up from only one in the previous NDA government.
Patna: As many as 31 candidates, including five from Muslim and three women legislators, took oath of office and secrecy as Ministers of new ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) government in Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Rajendra Mandapam of the Governor House. 16 ministers from RJD, 11 from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), two from Congress, one from ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one Independent were administered the oath of office and secrecy.
Among those who took oath were Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary, Shravan Kumar, Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni, Sanjay Jha, Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar, Jayant Raj and Zama Khan of JDU, Alok Kumar Mehta, Tej Pratap Yadav, Surendra Prasad Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav, Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandra Shekhar, Anita Devi, Sudhakar Singh, Israel Mansoori, Shamim Ahmed, Kartikeya Singh, Surendra Ram, Mohammad Shahnawaz and Jitendra Kumar Rai of RJD, Muhammad Afaq Alam and Murari Gautam from Congress, Santosh Suman from HAM Party and Sumit Kumar Singh as an independent candidate.
The number of Muslims in the new cabinet is five, up from only one in the previous NDA government. Previous government fell last week after Mr Kumar severed ties with BJP.
It may be noted that after the formation of the Mahagathbandhan government on August 10, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister and RJD’s Tejaswi Prasad Yadav as the Deputy Chief Minister.
