All eight Congress ministers in Bihar, four of the rank of Cabinet and as many ministers of state, resigned today, following Chief Minister Rabri Devi’s directive to enable her to reconstitute her ministry.A decision to this effect was taken at the Congress Legislature Party meeting held at the residence of its leader and Registration Minister Vijay Shankar Dubey. Dubey said he has faxed the resignation letters to the AICC general secretary and the party’s in-charge in Bihar for forwarding them to the Chief Minister for necessary action.Besides Dubey, other ministers of Cabinet rank who resigned were Ashok Kumar, Veena Shahi and Vishwa Mohan Sharma. Most of the RJD ministers have also resigned in response to Rabri Devi’s call for downsizing her ministry.Sources close to the CM said she had asked all the members of her Council of Ministers to tender their resignations by tomorrow to enable her to limit the size of the ministry to 15 per cent of the strength of the state Assembly, in keeping with the recent Constitutional amendment.The Chief Minister has already received the resignation letters from most RJD ministers, the sources claimed, and added that only those ministers who are away from Patna were yet to send their resignations. ‘‘But we expect that they would be sending their papers to the Chief Minister, may be by today or tomorrow on their return to the state capital.’’Prominent RJD ministers who have so far resigned include Excise Minister Shivanand Tiwari, Water Resources Minister Jagdanand Singh, Energy Minister Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Sugarcane Minister Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Tourism Minister Suresh Paswan, Higher and Secondary Education Minister Ramlakhan Ram Raman.The strength of the Bihar Assembly is 243 and the strength of Rabri Devi ministry is 53, of which 27 are Cabinet ministers and 26 are Ministers of State. According to the 91st amendment, 17 surplus ministers will have to go.
