New Delhi: In a landmark shift after two decades, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has relinquished the crucial Home Department, handing it over to Deputy CM and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary as the new NDA government finalised portfolio allocations on Friday. In lieu of it, the CM has got finance.
The move, announced a day after Nitish Kumar was sworn in for a record 10th term following the NDA’s thumping victory in the recent Assembly polls, signals stronger accommodation for alliance partner BJP in the power-sharing arrangement. Choudhary, the BJP’s state unit chief and a prominent OBC face, will now oversee law and order in the state — a portfolio Nitish had personally guarded since 2005.
Other key allocations include Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP) getting revenue and land reforms along with mining and geology, while senior BJP leader Mangal Pandey retains health and takes additional charge of law.
The 26-member ministry, which includes ministers from JD(U), BJP, HAM, LJP(RV) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, balances caste equations and rewards loyalists, with several new faces finding a place.
Nitish has kept General Administration, Finance and some other departments with himself, maintaining overall control. The prompt allocation underscores the NDA’s determination to promptly implement its development and governance commitments.
Political observers see the transfer of Home as a gesture of trust towards the BJP, which emerged as the largest alliance partner, while ensuring coalition harmony in Bihar’s complex social landscape.