Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant, 31 others take oath as Ministers in Samrat Choudhary's Cabinet in Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds roadshow in Patna

Patna: Nishant Kumar, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was among the 32 Ministers sworn-in in the Samrat Choudhary Cabinet here on Thursday.

Samrat, who was sworn in as the BJP’s first Chief Minister of Bihar on April 15, had taken oath with his two deputies from the JD(U) — Vijay Choudhary and Bijendra Yadav, but had not inducted any Minister in his Cabinet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajanth Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin were among those present at the oath ceremony which took place at the historic Gandhi Maidan. Modi took out a road show in Patna as a mark of celebration for having the first BJP government in this part of the Hindi belt.

Cut to size

Giving a short shrift to the JD(U), which since 2005 had played the role of a big brother, the BJP inducted 15 Ministers from the saffron camp, while 13 from the JD(U). Two Ministers from the LJP and one each from Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) were also administered the oath.

Nishant, who is an engineering graduate, was inducted into the JD(U) on March 8 after Nitish Kumar announced that he would quit as Bihar Chief Minister and become a Rajya Sabha member. Nishant, who like his father, was on a Sadbhav Yatra till a day back, meeting local people at Champaran, was persuaded by the JD(U) to join the ministry, keeping the consistent demands of the party’s rank and file.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being greeted by JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar during the swearing-in ceremony of new Ministers at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Thursday.

A reluctant politician, who is neither a member of the Legislative Assembly nor the Legislative Council, Nishant had last month refused to be sworn in as a Minister, saying he would like to work as an ordinary party worker. “It was left to JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha and Union Minister Lallan Singh to persuade Nishant to join the Ministry and learn the ropes,” said an aide close of Nitish.

Three ex-CM's sons

Besides Nishant, Nitish Mishra, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, was also inducted as a Minister while BJP’s prominent face Mangal Pandey was given the boot. Nitish Mishra was Industry Minister in the previous Nitish regime till November 2025. Yet another former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman too was inducted as a Minister, thereby taking the tally of former CMs’ sons to three (Nishant Kumar, Nitish Mishra and Santosh Suman).

With Thursday' induction of 32 Ministers, the strength of the present Council of Ministers in Bihar has reached 35. As per the constitutional provisions, Bihar can have a maximum of 36 Ministers in the 243-member Assembly.