Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will expand his cabinet on Tuesday, 80 days after the alliance resumed power in November last year. Induction of new members in the state cabinet will take place in the afternoon at Raj Bhavan where they will be administered the oath by Governor Phagu Chauhan.

The state cabinet at present has 14 members, including the chief minister. Seven ministers are from the BJP quota, five from Janata Dal-United and one each from Hindustani Awam Morcha and Vikassheel Insaan Party. As per norms, it can have up to 36 members.

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CM Nitish Kumar is likely to add 22 new ministers to his cabinet in the expansion today. Reports say that BJP will get 9 more birth while the JD(U) will get 8 seats in the state cabinet.

The most likely names to make the cabinet cut from the BJP are Shahnawaz Hussain, Samrat Chaudhary, Nitin Naveen and Sanjeev Chaurasia. Meanwhile, Jama Khan, Sanjay Jha and Sumit Singh are also likely to get a cabinet birth from the JD(U).

Other JDU leaders like Madan Sahni, Neeraj Kumar and Jayant Kushwaha and BJP leaders Sanjay Saraogi, Bhagirathi Devi and Neeraj Bablu may also make the final list of cabinet ministers. The cabinet expansion was due since the JD(U)-BJP alliance resume the government in November last year.

BJP’s national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was recently shifted to state politics and took oath as a member of Bihar Legislative Council election last month.