Nitish's Cabinet expansion: RJD gets more berths but JD(U) keeps key ministries. Key takeaways

In his first Cabinet expansion after joining hands with Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today inducted 31 new ministers, including 16 ministers from ally RJD. The new Cabinet has a sizeable number of Yadavs and Muslims, though members of other sections of the society have also been included in the new Cabinet.

Here are six takeaways from today's cabinet expansion.

RJD gets lion's share
The new Cabinet, predictably, has 17 members from RJD, including deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and his brother Tej Pratap Yadav. Nitish Kumar's own party JD(U) has 11 members, excluding the CM. Congress has two members while the HAM-S has one. Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh also finds a place.


But JD(U) keeps key portfolios
Nitish Kumar has retained his ministers from the earlier government, retaining most of their departments as well. The JD(U) has kept key portfolio like home, finance, vigilance and rural affairs while the RJD has got health, revenue, environment and road construction. Nitish has understandably kept home, possible to keep law and order situation under control. Considering RJD's past track records of creating law and order problems, this could be the key ministry in maintaining the alliance and government together.

Caste-religion balance
Seven Yadavs from RJD have been included in the Nitish Cabinet, including the two sons of Lalu Prasad, besides Bijendra Yadav of the JD(U).

Five Muslims ministers are inducted, three from RJD and two from Congress. There were two muslim ministers in the previous JD(U)-BJP government.

As part of its outreach to upper castes, the RJD also named a Bhumihar and a Rajput each. Cong selected a Dalit and a Muslim from its quota.

Women
The number of women ministers in the new Cabinet remains the same at three - Leshi Singh, Sheila Kumar and Anita Devi. Singh and Kumar are from the RJD while Devi belongs to JD(U).

Cases Against Ministers
Thirteen members, including Lalu's sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, have multiple criminal cases against them. JD(U)'s Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni and Mohd Zama Khan are other ministers that are facing cases.