Lalu's sons in Nitish ministry, JD(U) to bring new faces

Patna: The Nitish Kumar ministry will have 12 ministers from JD(U) with many new faces while Lalu Prasad's both sons -- Tejaswi and Tej Pratap-- will be among the ministers from RJD.

Highly placed sources in the Raj Bhawan said the list of ministers has reached Governor Ram Nath Kovind. JD(U) said there would be many new faces among 12 ministers from the party. Manju Varma, Madan Sahni, Shailesh Kumar and Kapildeo Kamat were among those tipped for ministerial berths.

Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan and Jay Kumar Singh, all members of the outgoing cabinet, will also find a place in the new Ministry.

From RJD's quota of 12 ministers, names of Tejaswi Yadav, his brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Abdul Gafoor, Vijay Prakash, Chandrika Rai, Mundrika Singh Yadav, Santosh Nirala, Ram Vichar Rai and Sheo Chander Ram were confirmed by RJD sources.

From Congress, state party chief Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Awdesh Kumar Singh will be sworn in, said state party sources.

RJD had won 80 seats in the Bihar poll followed by JD(U) 71 and Congress 27 totalling 178 in the 243-member Legislative Assembly.

A galaxy of leaders including Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Himachal Pradesh counterpart Virbhadra Singh would be present at the swearing in ceremony of the new Bihar government.
Source: PTI