Bihar swearing-in today; some old hands may return, a few berths may remain vacant

Hectic negotiations among NDA allies, particularly the BJP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), over government formation in Bihar have largely concluded. Nitish, who was endorsed unanimously by the alliance as its leader at a joint meeting of the legislative parties of the NDA constituents – the JD(U), BJP, Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha – on Wednesday (November 19) evening, met Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and staked claim to form the new government.

The JD(U) chief is scheduled to be sworn in as Bihar’s chief minister for a record-breaking 10th time since 2005 at a grand ceremony to be held at Patna’s iconic Gandhi Maidan at 11 am on Thursday (November 20). The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, several chief ministers from the BJP as well as Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Also read: Nitish returns to power leaning on Modi, the very man he once opposed

Though the allies have agreed on the formula for distribution of ministerial berths among them – one minister per six MLAs for the JD(U), BJP and LJP(R) and one minister each from the HAM and RLM – sources said both BJP and JD-U could keep a few of their berths vacant for now.

Snub to Chirag

After much jostling, the BJP and the JD(U) have also settled the prickly issue of who among them gets the post of the Assembly Speaker and who would control the home department. Agreeing to “maintain status quo” of their arrangement in the previous government, the JD(U) has grudgingly acceded to the BJP’s demand of retaining the Assembly Speaker’s post while a concession has also been made to Nitish, who will continue to keep the home department under his charge. Though the BJP’s Prem Kumar, who won the Gaya Town seat for a ninth consecutive term, is learnt to be the frontrunner for the Speaker’s post, some in the state BJP say the party could still pull a surprise for the post.

The BJP is also likely to retain both its deputy chief ministers from the previous regime – Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha – in the new government, indicating a snub for Chirag Paswan’s LJP(R), which was lobbying hard for one of its own to share the post after the party bagged 19 of the 29 seats it contested in the recently concluded polls. Earlier in the day, Chaudhary, the newly elected MLA from Tarapur, was elected as leader of the BJP legislative party while Sinha, who retained his Lakhisarai seat for the fourth consecutive time this election, was named deputy leader.

Caste equations

Sources in the Bihar unit of the BJP said that the election of Chaudhary, a backward-caste Kushwaha, and Sinha, a forward-caste Bhumihar, as leader and deputy leader, respectively, signalled that the party was “looking for continuity” in the new government too. There had been speculations earlier that the BJP could drop Sinha as deputy CM this time round and bet on its newly elected Siwan MLA and former state unit chief Mangal Pandey instead.

Also read: Nitish 10.0 govt: Why both BJP and JDU want Home Minister, Speaker posts

As per the formula for allocation of ministerial berths, the BJP, which emerged as the state’s single largest party with 89 seats in its kitty, will get 15 ministerial berths, including two deputy CMs, while the JD(U), which finished a close second with 85 seats, gets to retain the post of chief minister along with 14 ministerial berths.

The LJP(R) will get three ministerial berths and is keen on having all its nominees sworn in on Thursday. Sources in the LJP-R said the party wishes to “balance social arithmetic” in its ministerial berths by nominating a Dalit (from the Paswan community), an extremely backward caste and a Brahmin each. From the HAM, party chief and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is keen on his son Santosh Suman, an MLC, being inducted as minister while RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha has proposed the induction of his wife and newly elected Sasaram MLA, Snehlata Kushwaha in Team Nitish.

Old hands may return

Sources in the JD(U) say Nitish is keen on retaining several of his close aides in his ministry. These include JD(U) national general secretary and MLC Ashok Choudhary, seven-term Nalanda MLA Shrawon Kumar, four-term Sarairanjan MLA Vijay Choudhary, six-term Dhamdaha MLA Leshi Singh, nine-term Supaul MLA Bijendra Prasad Yadav, third-term Sonbarsha MLA and Dalit leader Ratnesh Sada, and seven-term Phulwari MLA Shyam Rajak. The JD(U) is also keen on including a Muslim in the cabinet and sources say Nitish could retain Chainpur MLA Zama Khan, who was also a minister in the previous government.

Also read: JD(U), BJP jostle for Speaker and Home Minister posts in Bihar

From the BJP’s camp, aside from Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, the party is also likely to have Mangal Pandey, Bettiah MLA Renu Devi, Aurai MLA Rama Nishad, Bankipur MLA Nitin Nabin, Danapur MLA Ram Kripal Yadav and Jhanjharpur MLA Nitish Mishra inducted into the cabinet.

Sources in the alliance said that clarity on portfolio allocation could emerge after Union Home Minister Amit Shah meets Nitish and other senior leaders of the alliance in Patna late Wednesday evening.