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19 new faces in Nitish Ministry; 10 dropped

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday expanded his 28-month-long Ministry inducting 19 new faces after dropping 10 of his ministerial colleagues -- eight of JD(U) and two of BJP.

Seventeen ministers of Cabinet rank and two of the State rank were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor R. S. Gavai at Raj Bhavan.

Earlier during the day, 15 Cabinet and 10 Ministers of State with independent charge resigned ostensibly to give Mr. Kumar a free hand in choosing his new Council of Ministers.

The dropped BJP ministers were Health Minister Chandra Mohan Rai and Arts and Culture Minister Janardan Singh Sirgriwal. The eight JD(U) ministers were dropped mostly for unsatisfactory performance, a senior party functionary said.

Of the 17 Cabinet ministers sworn-in, Renu Devi, Giriraj Singh, Bhola Prasad Singh, Ramnarayan Mandal and Awadhesh Narain Singh are from BJP, while Nagmani, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Chedi Paswan, Dinesh Prasad, Damodar Rawat, Ramanandan Singh, Harinarayan Singh, Shahid Ali Khan, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Rampravesh Rai and Hari Prasad Sao from JD(U). Jamshed Ashraf of JD(U) and Vyasdeo Prasad of BJP took oath as Ministers of State.

Meanwhile, ruling JD(U) MLA Chedi Paswan’s suspension from the primary membership of party was revoked ahead of the Cabinet expansion .

Party’s national president and Rajya Sabha member Sharad Yadav revoked Paswan’s suspension, an official release issued by the state JD(U) office here said. PTI

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19 new faces in Nitish Ministry; 10 dropped

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