After about three months of being sworn-in as Bihar’s Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar on Tuesday expanded his cabinet to include 17 new ministers. Among them is Neeraj Kumar Singh ‘Bablu’, the cousin of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Free Press Journal reported. Babloo is a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Chhatapur.
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Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence in June, last year.
BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain was also inducted into Kumar’s cabinet, ANI reported. All the 17 ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan, Patna.
Before the induction on Tuesday, the Bihar cabinet was functioning with 14 ministers.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed the government in the state after winning 125 of the 243 Assembly seats. Of these, BJP won 125, Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) won 43.
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Kumar has two Deputy CMs — Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, both from the BJP.