Portfolio race picks up ahead of CM oath

Nitish Kumar on Tuesday took stock of preparations for the oath-taking ceremony scheduled at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan at llam on Thursday even as allies Janata Dal (United) and Bharatiya Janata Party negotiated for key portfolios and the position of speaker ahead of their respective legislature party meetings.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran, Vijay Swaroop and Arun Kumar

Chief minister Nitish Kumar inspects preparations for the oath ceremony at Patna's Gandhi Maidan, on Tuesday.

(SANTOSH KUMAR/HT)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, several central ministers and chief ministers of National Democratic Alliance-ruled states are expected to attend the ceremony which will herald the fifth consecutive term for Kumar.

"Amit Shah will arrive in Patna on Wednesday evening. The confirmation about chief ministers would also come on Wednesday," said a BJP functionary aware of the details.

The NDA stormed to power in Bihar in the recently concluded assembly polls, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with the BJP bagging 89, the JD(U) 85, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 19, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) five and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha four.

Ahead of the oath ceremony, both the JD(U) and BJP have maintained silence on the issue of cabinet berths. A marathon meeting chaired by Shah in Delhi lasted for three hours on Tuesday and was attended by senior leaders of both parties, including BJP chief JP Nadda, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, JD(U)'s working president Sanjay Jha and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lallan) Singh.

"The outcome of the meeting will be announced after a second round of meeting in Patna on Tuesday evening...there are however no differences over any issue, it is natural for partners to discuss allocation of portfolios and selection of candidates for the cabinet," said a party functionary.