Shortly after the expansion of Nitish Kumar’s cabinet in Bihar, most of the ministers have taken charge in their ministries and departments. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has kept the General Administration Department and Home Ministry with him, while Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has been given the responsibility of Health Ministry and Road Construction Department. Vijay Kumar Choudhary has got the responsibility of Finance Department. With the formation of the government, the discussion has started among the common people of Bihar that who is more powerful in the government of Mahagathbandhan between Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. According to the number of 79 MLAs, RJD is already powerful in the government. Now even if we look at the distribution of ministries, Tejashwi Yadav’s upper hand is clearly visible. Let us understand it according to the budget of the ministries. 

RJD vs JDU Ministers

Although the number of ministers of RJD in the government is more than that of JDU, but if we look at the distribution of ministries, then there is an equal matter. RJD has 17 representatives including Tejashwi Yadav in the government, while JDU has 13 (including one independent) members including CM Nitish Kumar. It is worth noting that in the government of the Grand Alliance, 20-20 ministries have been divided between JDU and RJD. The budget of 20 ministries that went to RJD is Rs 99305.61 crore. At the same time, the budget of the ministries that went to JDU is Rs 68902.8 crore.

Tejashwi Yadav’s 4 vs Nitish Kumar’s 5

CM Nitish Kumar has a total of 5 departments including General Administration Department, Home Ministry, Cabinet Secretariat, Monitoring and Election Department. The budget of these five ministries is 16027.32 crores. On the other hand, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has been entrusted with the responsibility of 4 departments including Health, Road Construction, Urban Development and Housing and Rural Works Department. The budget of these four departments is 40741.32 crore. Experts say that the budget of the Ministry of Health alone is equal to the budget of all the 5 ministries of CM Nitish. As far as the responsibility of the ongoing government schemes in Bihar is concerned, RJD is heavy here too. RJD has 59%, JDU 36%, Congress 2.9%, HAM 1.8% and Independents 0.99%. In the matter of government schemes, Tejashwi Yadav alone has 24 percent.

Tej Pratap Yadav gets ‘WEAK’ Ministry  

Tej Pratap Yadav was made the Health Minister in the Mahagathbandhan government formed in 2015. This time also he wanted the same ministry. He wanted to get a chance to complete many unfinished work started during his tenure, but it has not happened. Tej Pratap Yadav has been given the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change. Budget wise, Tej Pratap Yadav’s ministry is very weak. The total budget of the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change is Rs.662.85 crore. On the other hand, Santosh Kumar Suman, who became minister from the quota of Hindustan Awami Morcha, has been given the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Department. The budget of his ministry is also Rs 1729 crore. That is, Tej Pratap Yadav’s ministry is weaker than Santosh Suman in terms of budget. One more thing to do here is that if the budget of Tejashwi and Tej Pratap’s ministry is added, then it reaches 41404.17 crores.

RJD More Powerful in Grand Alliance

Lalu Prasad’s son Tej Pratap Yadav, state president Jagdanand Singh’s son Sudhakar Singh and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HUM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman have also been successful in getting a place in the Nitish cabinet. Apart from this, Alok Mehta, Kartikeya Singh, Lalit Yadav, Sameer Mahaseth, Prof Chandrashekhar have been made ministers. In the swearing-in ceremony, five ministers took oath together. On the other hand, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Chaudhary, Sanjay Jha, Sheela Mandal have been made ministers again from JDU quota. In the first round, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijender Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta and Afaq Alam took oath. Among the ministers who took oath were 16 from RJD, 11 from JDU, two from Congress. Independent Sumit Kumar Singh has also been made a minister. After the swearing-in ceremony, former RJD state president Ramchandra Purve said that there is a mixture of experienced and youth in the cabinet.