Nitish Announces New Ministry
Patna: April 13, 2008
 In a massive rearrangement of the NDA government in Bihar, the first since coming into power nearly two and a half years ago, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday replaced ten members of his Cabinet and added 19 new faces leaving many ecstatic while leaving others in a state of utter shock and disappointment.
After a night of complete confusion mixed with anticipation, eight leaders from the Janata Dal (U) and two ministers from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) were given the pink slip on the ground of 'less than satisfactory performance'.
Those who will not be making a comeback in the new ministry include Health Minister Chandramohan Rai, Sports, Art and Culture Minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Building Minister Monazir Hasan, Rural Development Minister Baidyanath Mahto, Food, Supply, and Commerce Minister Suchitra Singh, Social Welfare Minister Rameshwar Paswan, Transport Minister Ajit Kumar, Minority Welfare Minister Manzar Alam, Minor Irrigation Minister Vishwamohan Rai, and Information and Public Relations Minister Arjun Rai.
 Among the new faces to join the Nitish cabinet are Bhola Singh, Giri Raj Singh, Vyasdeo Prasad, Ram Narayan Mandal, Renu Devi, Ram Pravesh Rai, Awadhesh Narayan Singh, and Vyasdeo Prasad (all from BJP), and Nagmani (husband of outgoing minister Suchitra Singh), Jitan Ram Manjhi, Shahid Ali Khan, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Dinesh Prasad, Chhedi Paswan, Hari Narayan Singh, Damodar Raout, Ramanand Singh, Hari Prasad Sah, and Jamshed Ashraf (all from JD-U).
Governor R. S. Gavai swore in all the new ministers in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chowdhary, and Bihar Legislative Council chairperson Prof. Arun Kumar.
Leaders from the opposition were not present on the occasion.
 While Modi maintained that no one was removed based on their 'unsatisfactory performance', sources said that the ouster of Rameshwar Paswan, Manzar Alam, Vishwamohan Kumar, and Ajit Kumar was directly related to their non-performance in their respective ministries.
Others like Monazir Hasan and Baidyanath Mahto were asked to prepare for Lok Sabha elections from Munger and Valmikinagar constituencies, reports said.
Voices of dissent could, however, be heard from many quarters.
Former Urban Development Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey who was one of the first ones to tender his resignation at the call of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made no bones about his frustration with his removal from the Urban Development department to the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).
"PHED is not a ministry with much responsibility and what has hurt me most is the fact that despite being a senior leader of the BJP, I was not consulted on these changes," Choubey said adding he may even consider leaving the Cabinet for good.
Former Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav also expressed his disappointment with his new department saying he was doing a great job as the Road Construction Minister and was shocked to learn he was given the Health Ministry; something that he is not experienced in.
Newly-inducted minister Nagmani said he was hoping to get the Water Resources ministry, instead he was given the Agriculture portfolio.
Nitish Mishra, the new Sugarcane Minister, also expressed his discontent over the Chief Minister's decision to give him a department 'where there's hardly any work'.
The New Nitish Cabinet:
Nitish Kumar - Chief Minister, Home, Administrative Reforms
Sushil Kumar Modi – Deputy Chief Minister, Finance, Commerce
Nand Kishore Yadav – Health
Ashwini Kumar Choubey – PHED
Vijendra Prasad Yadav – Water Resources
Ramashray Prasad Singh – Energy, Parliamentary Affairs
Narendra Singh – Food and Consumers
Sudha Srivastava – Planning and Development
Prem Kumar – Road Construction
Nagmani – Agriculture
Ramnath Thakur - Law (Additional charge of Information and Public Relations)
Jitan Ram Manjhi – Scheduled Castes Welfare
Narendra Narayan Yadav – Revenue and Land Reforms
Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha – Urban Development
Shahid Ali Khan – Science and Technology (Additional charge of Minority Welfare)
Bhola Singh – Urban Development
Giri Raj Singh – Cooperative
Dinesh Prasad – Minor Irrigation Resources
Dinesh Chandra Yadav – Industry
Chhedi Paswan - Building Construction
Damodar Raout – Social Welfare
Harinarayan Singh – Human Resources and Development
Ramanand Singh – Transport
Renu Devi – Art, Culture, and Youth Affairs
Hari Prasad Sah – Panchayati Raj (additional charge of Extreme Backward Welfare)
Ram Narayan Mandal – Fishery
Ram Pravesh Rai – Tourism
Awadhesh Narayan Singh – Labor Resources
Independent Charge:
Dr. Anil Kumar – Information Technology
Gautam Singh – Sugarcane
Ram Chandra Sahni – Mining and Geology
Nitish Mishra – Emergency Management
Ramji Das Rishideo – Forestry and Environment
Jamshed Ashram – Excise and Prohibition
State Minister:
Vyasdeo Prasad - Health.
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