Bihar Power Play: NDA Allies Push for Prime Posts Before Nitish Takes Charge

New Delhi: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself reviewed the preparations for the swearing-in ceremony to be held at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna at 11 am on Thursday by visiting the spot on Tuesday. Here, talks are going on between JDU and BJP regarding the sharing of ministries and the post of Assembly Speaker. Both the parties are going to hold their respective legislative party meetings on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and several Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states will attend the event. This will be the beginning of Nitish Kumar's fifth consecutive term.

A big majority for NDA, but why silence on ministries?

In the recently concluded assembly elections, NDA has got a clear mandate of 202 seats. Among these, 89 MLAs of BJP, 85 of JDU, 19 of LJP (Ram Vilas), 5 of HAM(S), and 4 of RLM have won. Still, both the major allies—JDU and BJP—are not saying anything openly on who will claim which ministry. On Tuesday, a three-hour-long meeting was held under the leadership of Amit Shah in Delhi, in which senior leaders of both parties were present.

Will there be two deputy CMs again?

There were two Deputy Chief Ministers in the previous government—Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. Both have won the elections this time also. There may be indications in the legislative party meeting of both the parties on Wednesday of whether there will be one or two Deputy Chief Ministers. According to the Constitution, a maximum of 36 ministers can be made in Bihar.

Conflict over which ministries?

Both BJP and JDU are eyeing the Home Department, which was with JDU last time. There is also a tug of war going on between the two parties regarding the education department. Both of them also have a strong claim on the post of Assembly Speaker. BJP's Prem Kumar and JDU's Vijay Chaudhary are being mentioned as possible names.

Will there be major changes in Nitish's cabinet?

A senior NDA leader indicated that this time some new and surprising faces may be seen in Nitish's cabinet. A plan is being prepared to have a mix of young and experienced leaders so that work can be done as per the big mandate.

BJP's preparations before the legislature party meeting

Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, BJP has appointed UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya as an observer. Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti have been made co-observers. JDU demands that if BJP takes the post of Speaker, then only one Deputy CM should be made.

What will Nitish Kumar do on Wednesday?

Nitish Kumar will be elected the leader of the JDU legislature party at 11 am on Wednesday.
He will be elected the leader of the NDA legislature party at 3:30 pm. After this, he will meet Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and submit the resignation of the old government and stake claim to form the government on behalf of NDA.

What will be the mathematics of seats in the cabinet?

According to NDA sources, ministries will be distributed based on the number of MLAs of the parties. The approximate formula is:

• Almost 1 minister for every 6 MLAs
• One post each to RLM and us(S)
• LJP(RV) gets three terms
• The remaining 30-31 seats will be divided between BJP and JDU.