Amid the growing speculation over a rift between the two ruling alliance parties of Bihar — the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — Chief Minister Nitish Kumar late on Saturday night changed the portfolios of three of his Cabinet colleagues from the RJD, including Education Minister Chandrashekhar, who has been generating controversy over his comment on the Ram temple, and for sparring with the Department Secretary.
The notification released by the government said there had been an amendment in the portfolios of Ministers Alok Mehta, Chandrashekhar, and Lalit Yadav. All three Ministers are from the JD(U)‘s alliance partner, the RJD. Mr. Mehta was Minister of Revenue and Land Reforms, Mr. Chandrashekhar was Education Minister, and Mr. Lalit Yadav was Minister for the Public Health Engineering Department.
According to the new notification issued by the Chief Secretary Amir Subhani, Mr. Mehta has been given charge of the Education Department, Mr. Chandrashekhar is the new Sugarcane Industry Minister, while Mr. Lalit Yadav has been made Revenue and Land Reforms Minister with additional charge of the Public Health Engineering Department.
