Overview
- Nishant Kumar, son of JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, took oath as a minister Thursday at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan during a large cabinet expansion attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior NDA leaders.
- Reports differ on the size of the intake, with 31 or 32 ministers inducted, and berths shared across partners: 15 from the BJP, 13 from JD(U), two from LJP (Ram Vilas), one from HAM (Secular) and one from RLM.
- Nishant entered active politics in March and is not a legislator, so he must win a seat in the Bihar Assembly or Legislative Council within six months to remain a minister.
- The move signals a generational turn inside JD(U) even as many veterans from the previous Nitish Kumar ministry returned to the council of ministers.
- The expansion follows Nitish Kumar’s shift to the Rajya Sabha and Samrat Choudhary’s elevation as Bihar’s first BJP chief minister after the NDA’s 2025 election win, setting up a likely bypoll or council route for Nishant to secure his seat.