Kumar will continue to hold Home, which gives him more authority over the police. He is expected to maintain the departments responsible for the welfare of the most underprivileged minorities and castes, who make up his main support base.
Also Read: How Bihar government changed in 6 hours: A timeline
The RJD has created a list of candidates and given it to Lalu Prasad, the leader of the party, for approval. Tejashwi Yadav will undoubtedly be appointed deputy chief minister, but it is not yet known which responsibilities he will retain.
An in-principle agreement has reportedly been reached over the new cabinet's make-up, which would likely include "35 members or more" from Kumar's JD(U), the RJD, and the Congress - according to a highly-placed source.
Also Read: Nitish Kumar: Master of the art of changing governments
Kumar spoke on the phone with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the political climate, and opposition parties have praised him for joining the "anti-BJP camp". The RJD will have the most ministers, in accordance with the broad strokes of the power-sharing formula, in recognition of the fact that it has a greater number of MLAs.
Since Governor Phagu Chauhan has urgent obligations and must fly, it is likely that only Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav will take the oath in the afternoon. The additional members will be sworn in later during a cabinet enlargement exercise.
Also Read: Bihar BJP vs JDU feud: All we know so far
“The JD(U) is likely to have 13 ministers, the RJD has settled for 16. The Congress will be given four berths, while former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM will have one member in the cabinet," the source said.
Also Read: Hope political stability returns to Bihar: Prashant Kishor
With the exception of the Congress, whose endorsement by the party's senior command in Delhi is still necessary, it is reported that the names of the coalition members have garnered widespread support. There is a good chance that many of the JD(Uministers) from the prior cabinet, which was sacked on Tuesday evening in accordance with a notification issued by the top secretary, will be reinstalled.
The source said that the in-principle decision to transfer BJP's portfolios to RJD implies that it will receive some important ones like Health and Road Construction departments.
(With PTI inputs)
