Patna: Ten minutes ahead of submitting his resignation, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dialled RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and begged his forgiveness for breaking the 'mahagathbandhan'.
Leading portal NDTV quoted Nitish Kumar saying,"Lalu Ji, forgive me, but after running the government for 20 months, I can not do it anymore, I am going to quit my post.” However, Lalu had asked him to consider his decision but the Bihar CM was determined. And after half an hour the news hit the TV channels that Nitish Kumar has broken the grand alliance with RJD and Congress. Later it was confirmed that Nitish and Bharatiya Janata Party are realigning to form a government in Bihar.
Yesterday, Twenty-seven ministers of the new Bihar Cabinet were sworn in by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at the Raj Bhawan. Of the total, 14 were from the Janata Dal (United), 12 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from the LJP, ANI reported.
Here is the list of Cabinet ministers:
CM Nitish Kumar - Home & Department of Personnel and Training
Dy CM Sushil Modi - Finance, Commerce & Forest minister
Nand Kishore Yadav-- Road Construction
Shrawan Kumar-- Rural Development and Parliamentary Affairs
Ram Narayan Mandal-- Revenue and Land Reforms
Jai Kumar Singh-- Industries, Science and Technology
Pramod Kumar-- Tourism
Krishnandan Verma-- Education
Maheshwar Hazari-- Building Construction
Vinod Narayan Jha-- PHED
Shailesh Kumar-- Rural Works
Suresh Kumar Sharma-- Urban Development and Housing
Kumari Manju Verma-- Social Welfare
Vijay Kumar Sinha-- Labour Resources
Santosh Kumar Nirala-- Transport
Rana Randhir Singh-- Cooperative
Khurshid alias Feroz Ahmad-- Minority Welfare and
Sugarcane Development
Vinod Kumar Singh-- Mines and Geology
Madan Sahni-- Food and Consumer Protection
Krishna Kumar Rishi-- Art and Culture
Kapildeo Kamat-- Panchayati Raj
Dinesh Chandra Yadav-- Minor Irrigation and Disaster
Management
Ramesh Rishideo-- SC, ST Welfare
Brij Kishore Bind-- Backward and EBC Welfare
Pashupati Paras-- Animal and Fish Resources.
Earlier on July 26, Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar Chief Minister citing political differences with Lalu Prasad Yadav led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), over corruption charges against the RJD supremo's son Tejashwi Yadav. On Thursday, he took oath as Bihar CM for the sixth time, marking a historic transition of the state from a Grand Alliance government to an NDA regime.
(With inputs from agencies)
