Nitish Kumar’s son and Bihar Health Minister Nishant is likely to be sent to the legislative council. This came days after he was inducted in Samrat Choudhary’s Cabinet. Besides, Deepak Prakash, son of Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha, is also expected to get a berth in the legislative council.
Notably, a total of 10 seats in Bihar’s Legislative Council are falling vacant in June. The tenure of members on nine seats will end on June 28, while one seat is already vacant following Nitish Kumar’s election to the Rajya Sabha. An announcement for the Legislative Council elections is likely by the end of May.
As many as 32 NDA leaders were sworn in as ministers by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain at a grand ceremony held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and several senior BJP leaders.
RJD questions JD(U) leaders’ status as deputy CMs
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Saturday raised questions over the status of senior JD(U) leaders Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Vijendra Prasad Yadav as Deputy Chief Ministers in the Bihar government, citing an apparent discrepancy in two separate notifications issued by the Cabinet Secretariat Department in Bihar.
According to the RJD, the notification issued on April 15 — the day Samrat Choudhary took oath as the Chief Minister — had mentioned both Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Vijendra Prasad Yadav as Deputy Chief Ministers along with the ministries allocated to them.
However, the party pointed out that in the notification issued on May 7 after the cabinet expansion, both leaders were mentioned only as ministers, without any reference to the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
Sharing copies of both notifications, the RJD questioned the state government and demanded clarification from CM Samrat Choudhary on whether the two leaders had been removed from the post of Deputy Chief Minister and retained only as cabinet ministers.
“The Bihar government and the Chief Minister should clarify the matter. The latest notification mentions both leaders only as ministers. The government must explain whether they are still Deputy Chief Ministers or not,” RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmad said.
Responding to the controversy, BJP spokesperson Neeraj Kumar dismissed the allegations and accused the RJD of misleading the public.
He said that the April 15 notification had clearly mentioned both leaders as Deputy Chief Ministers, while the May 7 notification was issued only for the purpose of allocation of departmental responsibilities.
“The April 15 notification clearly states that they are Deputy Chief Ministers. The May 7 notification only specifies which departments they are handling as ministers.” Kumar said.
