Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday raised questions over the delay in Cabinet expansion in Bihar. Mr. Yadav, while taking out his second phase of Jan Vishwas Yatra (People’s Trust Journey), said it had been almost one month of the formation of the new government but Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had not yet expanded his Cabinet.
“Looking at the current political scenario in Bihar, I am wondering that it’s almost going to be one month and Nitish Kumar has not expanded the Cabinet. What is the reason behind the delay? Due to non-expansion of the Cabinet, the developmental work related to the people of Bihar is also getting affected. The Chief Minister should explain the reason why Cabinet expansion is not taking place. This is a big issue,” Mr. Yadav said in Patna before embarking on his second phase of yatra.
On January 28, Mr. Kumar took oath for the record ninth time as a Chief Minister of Bihar after snapping ties with Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) and forming the government with the BJP. Apart from Mr. Kumar, two Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha had taken oath along with six others as Cabinet Ministers.
Both Deputy Chief Ministers have been allocated nine departments each and 22 other departments have been distributed among six Cabinet Ministers.
Back in the opposition, Mr. Yadav hit the ground from Muzaffarpur with his Jan Vishwas Yatra on February 20 and till now addressed 16 rallies in equal numbers of districts by travelling 1,500 km.
Mr. Yadav said people were now fed up with Mr. Kumar and his frequent flip-flops.
“I have seen how an IAS officer is not listening to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister himself announced in the Assembly to change the school timings but the officer of the Education department is not implementing the order. Actually, the Chief Minister is fed up now and he is unable to concentrate on the work. The people of Bihar are also fed up with him, the people in his party Janata Dal (United) are fed up with him, his alliance partners are fed up with him and not only this, even the bureaucrats are fed up with him,” Mr. Yadav said.
The present timings of government schools are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Chief Minister has announced to change it to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Quotes Manjhi
The RJD leader mocked Mr. Kumar by recalling the speech of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi who recently stated that had he not extended support to Mr. Kumar during the trust vote, his government would have fallen.
“Manjhi ji has rightly said that without his support, Nitish Kumar would have not formed the government. Despite being the third number party, he always becomes Chief Minister due to the support of others. We made him Chief Minister, BJP also made him Chief Minister and now the party having four MLAs has made him Chief Minister,” Mr. Yadav added.
Talking about his ongoing journey, Mr. Yadav said, “Till now, I have travelled 16 districts and travelled 1,500 km. Everywhere I am getting unprecedented blessings from all sections of people. People of all religions and castes are supporting us. Today I will be going to Vaishali, Samastipur, Madhubani, Darbhanga and a night stay in Supaul district. There is one change made in the programme that is no public meetings and only road shows and nukkad sabha.”
