Nitish Kumar, who has been the Chief Minister for the longest time in Bihar, took the oath of office and secrecy for the tenth time on Thursday (20 November 2025). 10 new faces along with old experienced leaders have been included in the 26-member cabinet of the new government, with special attention given to ethnic and regional balance. Many senior ministers of JDU and BJP were given a second chance in the new government.
10 MLAs became ministers for the first time
Of the 26 members of the Council of Ministers, 10 have become ministers for the first time. Senior BJP leaders Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, who were Deputy Chief Ministers in the previous government, have been retained in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet. At the same time, JDU has also retained its old ministers Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Shravan Kumar in the cabinet.
These leaders including Mangal Pandey became ministers again
BJP has again included its former ministers Mangal Pandey, Surendra Prasad Mehta and Nitin Navin in the cabinet. Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal has also returned to the cabinet. Another minister Narayan Prasad has also returned. Jaiswal and Narayan Prasad lost their posts due to Nitish’s sudden separation from NDA in the year 2022 and even when JDU returned to NDA last time, they did not get a place in the cabinet.
Message from Nitish cabinet to Yadav and EBC?
Among other NDA allies, HAM (Secular) has again made Santosh Kumar Suman, son of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, as its minister. The new faces include BJP MLA from Jamui and former shooting player Shreyasi Singh, Aurai MLA and Rama Nishad, daughter-in-law of former Union Minister Jai Narayan Nishad. These are being seen as steps to increase the party’s reach towards the EBC seafarers community.
Deepak Prakash, son of RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha, has also got a place in the cabinet, although he is not an MLA. It is expected that Deepak can be sent to the Legislative Council within six months. Senior BJP leader Ram Kripal Yadav has also returned to the cabinet. He defeated RJD’s Ritlal Yadav from Danapur assembly seat.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar from LJP (Ram Vilas) have been given ministerial posts. There are three women ministers in the cabinet, including JDU’s Lacey Singh and first-time ministers Shreyasi Singh and Rama Nishad. Jama Khan is the only Muslim minister. Political analysts say that the composition of the cabinet clearly reflects Nitish Kumar’s efforts to maintain social balance.
NDA’s caste equation
Of the total 27 members, eight are from upper caste, five from Dalit, one from Muslim and 13 from OBC/EBC categories. On party basis, BJP has got 14, JDU has got 8, LJP (Ram Vilas) has got 2, while HAM and RLM have got one ministerial post each. Former ministers Nitish Mishra, Jeevesh Mishra and Sanjay Saraogi have not got a place in the new cabinet. The maximum limit of the state cabinet is 36 members including the Chief Minister.
