A day before his government’s Cabinet expansion, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while delivering Independence Day speech on Monday, announced that his government aimed to create 20 lakh jobs — within and outside the government — in the State.
“We’re now together and our concept is that we should at least make it [jobs] to 10 lakh but we’ll arrange jobs and employment on such a scale within the government and outside it that it is to take up to 20 lakh”, announced Mr. Kumar, while looking up at his Deputy in the Cabinet, Tejashwi Yadav, who too was sitting during the flag hoisting ceremony at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan. Mr. Kumar said he (Mr. Yadav) was expected to take Bihar to a new path of development and progress.
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During the Assembly election campaign in 2020, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Mr. Yadav had promised 10 lakh jobs. When the Mahagathbandhan government was recently formed in the State after Mr. Kumar dumped the BJP and joined hands with the RJD again, BJP leaders raised questions over providing 10 lakh jobs to unemployed youths as promised by Mr. Yadav.
‘Historic announcement’
However, soon after Mr. Kumar announced that his government aimed to provide 20 lakh jobs, Mr. Yadav tweeted in Hindi to thank the Chief Minister for the “historic announcement”. “Many thanks to the respected Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar ji for the historic announcement from the Gandhi Maidan of arranging 10 lakh jobs and other 10 lakh jobs in Bihar according to the expectations and dreams of the unemployed youth. You and I will take Bihar on the path of development and progress. It’s a pledge!”.
However, senior State BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh hit back at Mr. Kumar by posting on social media an old video in which Mr. Kumar could be heard apparently slamming Mr. Yadav for promising to provide 10 lakh jobs to unemployed youths of the State. “It is not possible”, Mr. Kumar is heard saying in the video uploaded by Mr. Singh on his Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, hectic meetings of Mahagathbandhan leaders took place in Patna on Monday to discuss the Cabinet expansion on Tuesday. Party sources told The Hindu that Mr. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) might get 12-13 berths while the RJD 15-16 and the Congress two-three berths in the new Cabinet. The two Left parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the CPI(M), have declared that they would not be part of the government and would support it from outside, while the CPI said it would be part of the government, provided it got “respectable berths in the Cabinet”.
Speaker post for RJD?
It is also said that most of the JD(U) Ministers in the NDA government would retain their ministries while the RJD is all set to get the Speaker’s post besides Health and Finance. Names of Sudhakar Singh and Rahul Tiwari, sons of senior party leaders Jagdanand Singh (who is also State RJD president) and Shivanand Tiwari have been doing the rounds to become Ministers in the new Cabinet. Ailing RJD chief Lalu Prasad too is expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new Cabinet on August 16 at the Raj Bhavan. The lone independent MLA from Chakai in Jamui district, Sumit Kumar, too is likely to be included in the Cabinet along with Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Santosh Kumar Manjhi.
