Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Monday expanded his ministry by inducting 14 new members in the council of ministers. Some Janata Dal-United legislators, however, expressed unhappiness over the expansion.
Monday’s induction raised the strength of the council of ministers to 32.
Governor D.Y. Patil administered the oath of office to the new ministers at the Raj Bhavan at a function attended by Manjhi and his cabinet colleagues.
Prominent among the new ministers are Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Ram Lakhan Ram Raman, Samrat Choudhary, Shravan Kumar and Javed Iqbal Ansari.
This was the first cabinet expansion after Manjhi was sworn-in as chief minister last month after Nitish Kumar quit following the Janata Dal-United’s rout in the Lok Sabha poll.
However, two JD-U legislators, Neeraj Kumar and Gyanu Singh, expressed unhappiness over the induction of Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh.
“Lallan’s induction is wrong as he has abused Nitish Kumar in the past,” said Neeraj Singh, who is also the party spokesperson.
Rajiv Ranjan Singh was defeated in the Lok Sabha polls from Munger and was later nominated as a member of the legislative council.
Gyanu Singh said some of those inducted into the ministry were unable even to read the oath in Hindi.
“It is an unfortunate development,” he said, referring to woman JD-U legislator Bima Bharti, who Monday found it difficult to read her oath as minister.