The Congress will get three ministerial berths in the new Bihar government, a senior party leader said on Sunday. Two Congress MLAs will take oath as ministers on August 16, and one more leader will be inducted when the next cabinet expansion happens, AICC’s state in-charge Bhakta Charan Das said while speaking to news agency PTI.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped his long-time ally BJP and joined hands with the RJD of Lalu Prasad Yadav. The Congress and other opposition parties backed the Mahagathbandhan 2.0 led by Nitish and Tejshwai Yadav, who has taken over as Deputy CM.
The Congress is the third largest party in the alliance with 19 MLAs. The JDU has 45 while RJD has 79.
Today, the Congress leader said that the number of ministerial berths the party will get in the new government has been finalised. “The Congress will get a total of three ministerial berths,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. However, the names of the leaders are yet to be finalised by the Congress. Earlier, it was reported that the Congress was looking for four ministries.
Nitish Kumar took oath as CM on August 10 and the cabinet expansion is expected on Tuesday.
The Grand Alliance at has seven partners – JD(U), RJD, Congress, CPIML(L), CPI, CPI(M) and HAM. They together have 166 MLAs in the 243-member assembly. The BJP, the principal opposition party, has 77 MLAs in the House.
