Koeri, Bhumihar, Kurmi: Nitish Kumar's new team balances caste equation in Bihar government

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Mahagathbandhan alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Congress. The once front runner of INDIA bloc also quit the alliance and joined hands with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), a political alliance the Bihar CM had vowed never to look back upon a couple of years ago. Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar on Sunday, after requesting the Bihar governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to dissolve the previous Mahagathbandhan government, which has Tejaswi Yadav as Deputy Chief Minister.

Nitish Kumar was sworn in the chief minister of Bihar for the record 9th time. The swearing-in of ministers in Bihar's NDA government on Sunday appears to have been influenced by caste considerations and loyalty. Bihar now has two deputy chief ministers- Samrat Choudhary, a Koeri, and Vijay Sinha, a Bhumihar.

This decision by the NDA, helmed by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, evidently points at the power structures attempting to appease OBCs while maintaining the support of the core upper caste base, in a state where caste politics trumps everything else. Among those sworn in as members of Nitish Kumar's council of ministers, apart from the two deputy CMs, are BJP’s Prem Kumar, JD(U) leaders Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Vijendra Yadav and Shravan Kumar, Hindustan Awam Morcha leader Santosh Kumar Suman, and Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh. Notably, Nitish Kumar, Samrat Chaudhary, and Santosh Kumar Suman are Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs).