Patna, June 2: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday expanded his Council of Ministers with eight Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leaders taking oath as ministers. Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon administrated oath of office and secrecy to Ashok Chaudhary, Shyam Rajak, Laxmeshwar Prasad, Bhima Bharati, Ram Sevak Singh, Sanjay Jha, Neeraj Kumar and Narendra Narayan Yadav at Raj Bhavan.

Shyam Rajak had left Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to join JD(U) a few years ago. He was a member of the state cabinet earlier as well. Ashok Chaudhary, who was once the chief of Bihar Congress, was also a minister in JDU-RJD-Congress coalition government. Following the expansion of the cabinet, Nitish Kumar denied reports of a rift between JD(U) and its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). EVM Topic of Losers, Questions Raised Are ‘Bogus’, Says Nitish Kumar.

The development is seen as a message to the BJP which offered only one cabinet berth to the JD(U) at the Centre. With the induction of eight ministers, Kumar has left only one seat for the saffron party on which the BJP still has to decide a candidate.

"Vacancies from JD(U) quota in the cabinet were empty so our leaders were inducted. There is no issue with BJP, everything is fine," Kumar told reporters. Rajan also negated the claim that there is a rift between BJP and JD(U) over the allotment of only one ministerial berth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new cabinet. "National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is intact. People are merely spreading rumours," he said. Nitish Kumar Wants BJP to Act Against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s Pro-Godse Remark.

While Kumar attended PM Modi's swearing-in ceremony, the JD(U) on May 30 decided to not be a part of his new cabinet, saying it would not accept the BJP’s offer of only one ministerial berth. "They (BJP) wanted only one person from JD(U) in the Cabinet. So, it would have been just symbolic participation. We informed them that we do not need it (Cabinet berth)," Kumar had said.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, JD(U) won 16 seats in Bihar, while the BJP bagged 17. Despite being a part of the NDA, the party was also not part of the last central government. The BJP, however, is sharing power in Bihar with its leader Sushil Kumar Modi as the state’s Deputy Chief Minister.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 02, 2019 01:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).