Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant Kumar has joined the Bihar government, weeks after his father resigned as the chief minister, ending his nearly two-decade-long rule and making way for a BJP CM. He is among the 32 politicians from the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s constituents who took oath as ministers as part of the state’s Cabinet reshuffle.
Those who took the oath today include 15 leaders from the BJP, 13 from JDU, 2 from LJP (RV) and one each from HAM and RLM.
Nishant Kumar, an engineer by training, had been reluctant to join the Cabinet. He gave his consent recently.
There was speculation that he might assume the role of the deputy chief minister of Bihar. He, however, refused to accept the crucial position.
BJP’s Samrat Choudhary became the Bihar Chief Minister after Nitish Kumar stepped down. Under the JD(U) quota, Vijay Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav were appointed deputy chief ministers.
Also read: Nishant Kumar To Join Bihar Cabinet. How It Happened
Sources had told NDTV at the time that Yadav would step down whenever Nishant decides to join the government.
Ahead of the oath ceremony, Nishant Kumar took the blessings of his father, Nitish Kumar, and other JD(U) leaders.
Nishant Kumar, 50, remained low-profile throughout his father’s decades-long political career, occasionally showing up for election campaigning. However, in March, amid reports that Nitish Kumar was preparing to move to the Rajya Sabha – which he eventually did – Nishant formally joined politics.
After becoming a member of the JD(U), Nishant had told party leaders, “I will try to take care of the party as an active member. My father has decided to move to the Rajya Sabha. It is his personal decision, and I accept it. We will work under his guidance. I will try to live up to the trust of the party and people and strengthen the organisation.”
Days before he joined the government, Nishant took out a ‘Sadbhav Yatra’ (Goodwill Tour) from Patna to Valmikinagar. He interacted with several locals and tried to understand issues, including problems linked to schools and colleges.
Also read: Son Of Nitish Kumar, Who Despised Dynasty Politics For Decades, Joins JDU
In Bettiah, a man asked him to set up a university in the Champaran region. A video clip of this interaction had gone viral on social media.
Senior JD(U) leaders close to Nishant Kumar told him that he could only fulfil such demands if he was a part of the government, as issuing directives to officials without holding an official position would send a negative signal.
Party leaders told NDTV that Nishant Kumar’s induction as a minister would ensure coordination and synergy between the government and the party. Since Nishant Kumar’s primary focus lies on the party, he will prioritise JD(U)’s interests as well with his decisions as a minister.
List Of New BJP, JD(U) Ministers
From the BJP, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Dilip Jaiswal, Ram Kripal Yadav, Nitish Mishra, Mithlesh Tiwari, Kedar Gupta, Rama Nishad, Pramod Chandravanshi, Lakhindra Paswan, Sanjay Tiger, Engineer Kumar Shailendra, Ramchandra Prasad, Nandkishore Ram, Shreyasi Singh and Arun Shankar Prasad took the oath.
From the JD(U), Shravan Kumar, Ashok Chaudhary, Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni, Jama Khan, Sunil Kumar, Sheela Mandal, Ratnesh Sada, Bulo Mandal, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Damodar Rawat, Nishant Kumar and Sweta Gupta became ministers.