Nitish’s three key aides may join Modi team

A day ahead of swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a one-to-one meeting with BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi.

Nitish, who is also the national president of the JD(U), a key ally of the BJP which won 16 out of 17 seats it contested in Bihar, has been authorised to name those MPs who could join Modi’s ministerial team. Though the JD(U) has been an NDA ally since 2017, this will be for the first time that it will formally join the Modi government.

Though there has been no official communication about who all are likely to join the Modi ministry, sources within the ruling camp said that JD (U) may get one Cabinet berth, besides two MoS portfolio.

“This is an out and out exclusive prerogative of the Prime Minister whom to pick for his team. But informal parleys are on with the regional players who are part of the NDA. As party president, their regional chieftains are entitled to suggest the names from their respective parties to be included in the Modi ministry,” the source told Deccan Herald.

According to the source, Nitish’s key aide Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, who won from Munger Lok Sabha seat, is the front-runner to be included in the Modi Cabinet. Others in the reckoning are RCP Singh, the leader of the JD(U) parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha. Besides, there are two names doing the rounds, out of which anyone would be picked up for the ministerial berth. This includes Santosh Kushwaha (who won from Purnia for the second consecutive time) and Ramnath Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member, who is son of former Chief Minister late Karpoori Thakur.

The LJP may be represented in the Union Cabinet through Ram Vilas Paswan, who did not contest LS poll but may soon get a Rajya Sabha berth. “Of the BJP MPs from Bihar, four of them may find place in Modi’s team,” the high-level source told DH.