Seven BJP legislators were inducted into Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's cabinet on Wednesday.
BJP leaders Dr Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Saraogi, Jibesh Kumar, Raj Kumar Singh, Moti Lal Prasad, Krishna Kumar Mantu and Vijay Kumar Mandal took oath as ministers. Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered to oath to new ministers.
CM Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary attended the oath ceremony for the new ministers at Raj Bhavan.
The cabinet expansion comes months ahead of the assembly elections in the state. Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Dilip Jaiswal resigned, confirming the cabinet expansion.
The assembly elections in Bihar are likely to be held in October this year. The main competition will be between the BJP-led National democratic alliance and the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) alliance.
After today's expansion, the cabinet has reached its full capacity of 36 ministers, which is the maximum allowed for the state with its 243-member assembly.
The cabinet expansion appears to reflect strategic considerations of the BJP's voter base, occurring just one day after the party's national president led a meeting with the "core group" in the area.
