Nitish asks Cong to talk to Tejashwi for cabinet expansion

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Saturday said Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have been asked to discuss and finalise the names to be inducted into the state cabinet.

Talking to reporters in Bhagalpur, Kumar said Congress leaders had met him regarding the cabinet expansion and he had told them to talk to him (RJD leader and deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav) for that.

CM Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U), RJD and Congress are the three major constituents of the ruling alliance in the state.

Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh had earlier dismissed Yadav’s claim that there was no plan for cabinet expansion and said it was the CM’s prerogative. He had sought two more berths in the cabinet, citing his party’s tally in the assembly.

Congress, which has 19 MLAs in the 243-member state assembly, currently has two ministers in the “Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance)” government, which was formed after CM Kumar dumped the BJP in August last year.

Bihar cabinet can have a maximum of 36 berths, five of which are still lying vacant.

A few Congress leaders that HT spoke to, who did not wish to be identified, forsee an imminent face-off with RJD on the question of cabinet expansion.

Meanwhile, opposition BJP took a swipe at the CM’s offer to Tejashwi Yadav to decide on the cabinet expansion, saying it clearly suggested RJD was now taking the control of JD-U.

BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said, “Rebel JD-U leader Upendra Kushwaha had feared that his party will merge with RJD under a ‘secret deal’ and lose its identity. Now, it’s becoming a reality.”