Patna: Shortly after BJP leader Samrat Choudhary was sworn in as the new chief minister of Bihar, replacing JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, the state govt on Wednesday distributed portfolios among the newly appointed ministers. Apart from Samrat, two ministers from the JD(U) quota took oath of office and secrecy at the Lok Bhavan.As per the notification issued by the cabinet secretariat department on Wednesday, the newly appointed chief minister has kept a lion’s share of 29 departments with him, including home, which remained with the BJP prior to the power transfer. On the other hand, 18 departments have gone to the JD(U) share.
The key departments that remain with the chief minister include general administration, home, health, cabinet secretariat, revenue and land reforms, industry and road construction. Other departments with the chief minister include vigilance, elections, mines and geology, urban development and housing, law, agriculture, minor water resources, labour resources, youth, employment and skill development, tourism, arts and culture, dairy, fisheries and animal resources, disaster management, backward classes and extremely backward classes welfare, scheduled castes and scheduled tribe welfare, information technology, sports, cooperative, environment, forest and climate change, sugar cane, public health engineering department (PHED) and panchayati raj. Some of the departments could be distributed among the three BJP allies such as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJP-RV), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM-S) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), BJP sources said.Of the 18 departments that went to the JD(U) share, 10 were handed over to Vijay Kumar Choudhary and eight to Bijendra Prasad Yadav, both deputy chief ministers. The 10 departments given to Vijay Kumar Choudhary include water resources, parliamentary affairs, information and public relations, building construction, minority welfare, education, science, technology and technical education, rural development, transport and higher education.The eight departments given to Bijendra Prasad Yadav are energy, planning and development, prohibition, excise and registration, finance, commercial taxes, social welfare, food and consumer protection and rural development.The JD(U) also expressed deep concern over the way the key home portfolio remains with the BJP even as the power has changed in Bihar. This department remained with former chief minister Nitish Kumar since he came to power in Nov 2005, but it went to the BJP for the first time after the Nov 2025 assembly polls.Expressing anguish over the portfolio distribution, a senior JD(U) leader said no prominent faces from the extremely backward classes and Dalits were given place in the cabinet although they have been the “core voters” of the JD(U) and helped the party stay in power for long years. “What was more strange, our ally didn’t even express thanks by passing a formal resolution for the kind of sacrifice displayed by our leader,” the leader said, wishing not to be identified.“Unka palda toh bhari ho hi chuka hai,” said another senior leader, expressing surprise over the way a meeting of the JD(U) legislature party was also not done while the BJP did it. “It appears the JD(U) has gone in the control of some unseen forces,” he said.
