Nitish Kumar was sworn in Bihar Chief Minister for a fifth time on Friday at a grand event attended mostly by non-BJP leaders. The two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad — Tejaswi and Tej Pratap —and 26 others were also sworn in.
In the late-evening allocation of portfolios, Tejaswi Yadav, the younger son of Mr. Lalu Prasad, became Deputy Chief Minister. The elder son, Tej Pratap, was given charge of three important Ministries.
Apart from Nitish Kumar, 12 members each from the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and four from the Congress were administered the oath of office.
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After Mr. Kumar, Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap took the oath. All the family members of Mr. Lalu Prasad were present at the glittering ceremony on Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan.
The JD(U) members who took the oath are: Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar, Jay Kumar Singh, Maheshwar Hazari, Krishnandan Prasad Verma, Santosh Nirala, Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmad, Shailesh Kumar, Kumari Manju Varma, Madan Sahni and Kapildeo Kamat.
Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan, Bijendra Yadav, Shrawan Kumar and Jay Kumar Singh were Ministers in the previous Nitish government. Shailesh Kumar, Kumari Manju Verma, Madan Sahni and Kapildeo Kamat are first-timers.
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Other RJD leaders who found a place in the new Cabinet are Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Abdul Gafoor, Vijay Prakash, Chandrika Rai, Alok Kumar Mehta, Ram Vichar Rai, Sheo Chander Ram, Muneshwar Chaudhary, Dr. Chandrashekhar and Anita Devi.