Patna, Nov 21 (IANS) A day after taking oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for the 10th time, Nitish Kumar allocated portfolios to the 26 Ministers in his new Cabinet.

The Council of Ministers includes representatives from the Janata Dal-United, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hindustani Awam Morcha, Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas, and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has retained the General Administration, Election Monitoring, and several other important departments.

In a major shift, the crucial Home Department, previously held by Nitish Kumar, has been given to Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary.

With this change, policing and law-and-order responsibilities now fall directly under Deputy CM Choudhary.

He had earlier handled the Finance and Commercial Tax departments.

The second Deputy Chief Minister, Vijay Kumar Sinha, will oversee the Revenue, Land Reforms, and Mining Ministries — portfolios he handled in the previous NDA government as well.

Mangal Pandey retains the Health Ministry and has also been allotted the Law Department.

Dilip Jaiswal, the State BJP President and MLC, has been given the Industries Department, previously held by Nitish Mishra.

Nitin Nabin will lead the Road Construction, Urban Development, and Housing departments.

Ram Kripal Yadav, the newly-elected MLA from Danapur, has been given the Agriculture Department.

Sanjay Singh Tiger will lead the Labour Resources Department.

Arun Shankar Prasad has been allotted the Tourism, Art, Culture, and Youth Affairs.

Surendra Mehta will handle the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Resources.

Narayan Prasad has been appointed the Disaster Management Minister.

Rama Nishad will oversee the Backward Classes Welfare Department.

Lakhendra Kumar Roshan has been allotted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Department.

Shreyasi Singh, international shooter and second-term MLA, will lead the Information Technology and Sports department.

Pramod Kumar (Chandravanshi) will look after Cooperatives, Environment, and Climate Change.

Under the JD-U quota, Madan Sahani has once again been allotted the Social Welfare Department, the same portfolio he held in the previous government.

Similarly, Ashok Choudhary has retained the Rural Works Department, continuing in the role he held earlier.

Leshi Singh will oversee the Food and Consumer Affairs Department, while Shravan Kumar continues as the Rural Development Minister.

Vijay Kumar Choudhary has been given charge of the Water Resources Department along with the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

Under the HAM quota, its National President Santosh Kumar Suman will continue as the Minor Water Resources Minister, retaining the same portfolio he held in the previous NDA government.

Under the LJP (Ram Vilas) quota, Sanjay Kumar has been allotted the Sugarcane Industry Department, and Sanjay Singh will manage the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).

Under the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) quota, Deepak Prakash has been given the significant Panchayati Raj Ministry.

–IANS

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