As BJP gets Bihar Home portfolio for the first time, why it is significant
In exchange, JD(U) gets the Finance Department, which earlier used to go to the BJP as part of the arrangement between the NDA allies
As Home Minister, Samrat Choudhary will oversee policing, law enforcement, and internal security. (File photo) 
For the first time in two decades, the BJP has got the Home portfolio in Bihar after CM Nitish Kumar on Friday handed over the crucial department to Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary. The JD(U), in exchange, has received the Finance portfolio along with the Commercial Tax department that was with the BJP earlier as part of the arrangement between the allies.
“I will work to build on the work Nitish Kumar has done at the ground level. It is a significant task and a great responsibility entrusted to me, and I am committed to doing my best to further strengthen sushashan (good governance) in Bihar,” Chaudhary told The Indian Express.
The decision to give Choudhary the Home portfolio signals a significant shift in dynamics in the NDA, underlining the BJP’s position as the largest party in the state with 89 seats in the current Assembly. This also positions the BJP as the key player in the state’s law and order apparatus, working in parallel to the Chief Minister’s Office, said an NDA leader.
As Home Minister, Choudhary will oversee policing, law enforcement and internal security, something that was Kumar’s domain until now, spanning multiple coalitions in the last 20 years. Nitish Kumar will continue to retain portfolios such as General Administration, Vigilance, Cabinet Secretariat, Election and other non-allotted departments.
In the past, Nitish has mostly resisted parting with the Home Department. During the brief tenure of Jitan Ram Manjhi as CM, though the CM’s office controlled the department, JD(U) insiders said Kumar still wielded influence there. There had been pressure from allies when the JD(U) was in the Mahagathbandhan, but even then, Nitish managed to keep his grip on Home.
According to a government notification, the CM allocated the Revenue and Land Reforms to his second Deputy CM, Vijay Kumar Sinha. Sinha will also continue to manage the Department of Mines and Geology. Revenue and Land Reforms was earlier looked at by now-dropped BJP minister Sanjay Saraogi.
The all-important Finance portfolio has been given to senior JD(U) leader Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who has also been assigned the Commercial Tax, both of which were with Choudhary in the previous term. Yadav will also retain his previous departments of Energy, and Planning and Development, while also taking charge of the Prohibition, Excise and Registration department of the dry state from his party colleague Ratnesh Sada, who has been dropped.
The JD(U) has repeated its ministers in key departments such as Education (Sunil Kumar), Rural Development (Shrawan Kumar), Social Welfare (Madan Sahni), Food and Consumer Protection (Leshi Singh), Rural Works (Ashok Choudhary, and Minority Welfare (Zama Khan). Additionally, Shrawan Kumar has been allocated Transport, which was handled by now dropped JD(U) minister Sheela Mandal, while the Science, Technology and Technical Education portfolio goes to Education Minister Sunil Kumar after JD(U) former minister Sumit Kumar Singh lost to the RJD from Chakai.
Two more JD(U) ministers who have been excluded from the Council of Ministers are Maheshwar Hazari and Jayant Raj Kushwaha. Their respective departments — Information and Public Relations, and Building Construction — will now be looked at by party colleague Vijay Kumar Chaudhary who will continue as the minister of Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs.
While former BJP state president Mangal Pandey has retained Health and Law, Nitin Nabin, the son of former MLA Nabin Kishore Sinha, has retained Road Construction and taken charge of Urban Development and Housing from his colleague Jibesh Kumar Mishra, who has been dropped. The new faces from the BJP in the current government have also got significant departments, including the current state BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal who replaced BJP MLA Nitish Mishra as Industries Minister. Nitish is the son of former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra.
Former MP Ramkripal Yadav (Agriculture), Arun Shankar Prasad (Tourism, and Arts & Culture), and former Olympian and acclaimed shooter Shreyasi Singh (Information Technology, and Sports) have also been allotted portfolios, all of which were with the BJP in the previous Cabinet.
The JD(U) did not need to make adjustments to make space for its other NDA allies in the Cabinet, as the BJP vacated its previous portfolios where these ministers were accommodated. RLM leader Upendra Kushwaha’s son Deepak Prakash, who will join the Assembly or Council in the coming months, has been allotted the Panchayati Raj ministry. It was earlier held by Kedar Prasad Gupta, who has been dropped by the party. The BJP also excluded its former ministers Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu and Krishnanandan Paswan to accommodate two new ministers, Sanjay Kumar and Sanjay Kumar Singh from Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas). The two have been given the Public Health Engineering and Sugarcane Industries departments, respectively.
The HAM (Secular) has retained Minor Water Resources, with party chief and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Kumar Sumar getting the portfolio.
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