PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday formed the cabinet of his new NDA-backed government and distributed portfolios among the ministers.
Kumar retained the key portfolios of home, general administration and vigilance while giving away the crucial finance and commercial taxes portfolio to his deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, said a senior official of the state government, requesting anonymity.
The list has not yet been uploaded on the government website.
Modi will also hold additional portfolios of environment and forest and information technology, he said.
Prem Kumar, who was the leader of the BJP in the assembly during the erstwhile grand alliance government, was allocated agriculture while Nitish’s trusted lieutenant Bijendra Prasad Yadav was given energy, prohibition and excise.
Another Nitish confidant Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lalan Singh, got the water resources department, besides the additional portfolio of planning and development.
The portfolios for other ministers are as follows:
Nand Kishore Yadav – road construction
Shrawan Kumar – rural development and parliamentary affairs
Ram Narayan Mandal – revenue and land reforms
Jai Kumar Singh – industries, science and technology
Pramod Kumar – tourism
Krishnandan Verma – education
Maheshwar Hazari – building construction
Vinod Narayan Jha – PHED
Shailesh Kumar – rural works
Suresh Kumar Sharma – urban development and housing
Kumari Manju Verma – social welfare
Vijay Kumar Sinha – labour resources
Santosh Kumar Nirala – transport
Rana Randhir Singh – cooperative
Khurshid alias Feroz Ahmad – minority welfare and sugarcane development
Vinod Kumar Singh – mines and geology
Madan Sahni – food and consumer protection
Krishna Kumar Rishi – art and culture
Kapildeo Kamat – panchayati raj
Dinesh Chandra Yadav – minor irrigation and disaster management
Ramesh Rishideo – SC, ST welfare
Brij Kishore Bind – backward and EBC welfare
Pashupati Paras – animal and fish resources.
