Patna, (Samajweekly) Three days gone by after the formation of new NDA government in Bihar, portfolios are yet to be allotted to the ministers who were sworn in on January 28.
Such a situation had never arisen in the past and sources have said that something is not right between Nitish Kumar and the state BJP leadership.
Nitish Kumar, along with 8 ministers – including two Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha – were sworn in on January 28 but they are still without any departments.
Sources say that Choudhary and Sinha also refused to accept the official cars allotted by the Cabinet Secretariat as they were given the cars which were used by former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav during the Mahagathbandhan government.
Such a situation did not arise in the last 18 years of Nitish Kumar’s tenure as Chief Minister.
In 2015, Nitish Kumar formed the government with the RJD and he, along with Tejashwi Yadav, took the oath of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister on November 20, 2015. Besides, 23 ministers also took the oath on the same day and the departments were allotted within a few hours.
When Nitish Kumar switched over to the NDA in 2017, he and Sushil Kumar Modi were sworn in on July 27, 2017 and after two days, 27 more ministers had been sworn-in and the portfolios were distributed within a few hours.
In 2020, Nitish Kumar formed the government with the BJP and he, along with two Deputy CMs – Tar Kishore Prasad and Renu Devi – were sworn in along with 15 ministers on November 16, 2020 and the portfolios were decided on the same day.
When Nitish Kumar again took a U-turn in 2022, he, along with Tejashwi Yadav and 31 ministers had taken the oath on August 9, 2022 and the portfolios were distributed on the same day.
Sources have said that Nitish Kumar wants to give the BJP the departments that were with the RJD and the Congress earlier but the BJP wants Home and General Administration leading to the confrontation between the two sides.
