With the announcement that Nitish Kumar and members of his new cabinet will take oath at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan on 20 November, speculation is intensifying over who will secure a place in the new council of ministers.
Nitish Kumar is expected to take oath as Chief Minister for the tenth time, along with around 20 ministers from the five NDA allies. The remaining ministers are likely to be inducted during a cabinet expansion after the floor test.
JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha and senior party leader Lalan Singh returned to Patna on Tuesday after meeting senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi. The two JD(U) leaders had rushed to the capital late Monday night to discuss portfolio distribution among the NDA partners.
They avoided interacting with the media at Patna airport and drove straight to the Chief Minister’s residence to brief Nitish Kumar.
According to sources, Amit Shah will arrive in Patna on Wednesday evening and meet JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar. The high-level meeting is expected to finalise the structure of the new government, the division of departments, and the coalition’s common agenda.
Meanwhile, sources indicate that senior BJP leader and current minister Prem Kumar may be appointed the new Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
Speculation gained further momentum when Deputy Chief Minister and former Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha publicly endorsed Prem Kumar’s name. He told the media that Prem Kumar is the most senior BJP leader in the House and expressed confidence in his ability to run the Assembly effectively.
Prem Kumar, an eight-term MLA from Gaya, is the senior-most BJP legislator. If elected, he would replace outgoing Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, who was denied a ticket in this election and thus did not return as an MLA, creating an opening for Prem Kumar.
There had reportedly been a tug-of-war between the BJP and JD(U) over the Speaker’s post. The JD(U) argued that since the BJP holds the chairperson’s post in the Legislative Council, the Assembly Speaker should come from the JD(U). The BJP, however, did not accept this demand.