The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Thursday took a dig at the newly elected MLAs of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) who took oath to join the new Bihar Cabinet.
During the election campaign for the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, the ruling NDA, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United), had consistently criticized the opposition RJD and Congress for promoting “dynastic politics”.
In a post on RJD pointed out that many of the new ministers have family connections with politicians.
The RJD has highlighted the names of 10 ministers, including Samrat Chaudhary, Nitin Naveen and Shreyasi Singh, over their links to established political families.
RJD said, “I take an oath that with the special affection and blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, who are staunch opponents of dynasty politics, I will eliminate nepotism from the politics of Bihar and build a new Bihar.”
The RJD highlighted the names of leaders with direct family ties to those in power, including Santosh Suman Manjhi, former deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Ashok Chaudhary.
According to RJD, Santosh Suman Manjhi is the son of Union Minister Jeetam Ram Manjhi, son-in-law of MLA Jyoti Manjhi and husband of Deepa Manjhi. Samrat Chaudhary is the son of former minister Shakuni Chaudhary and late former MLA Parvati Devi.
RJD said that Deepak Prakash, who took oath as minister today, is the son of former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha and MLA Snehlata. Ashok Chaudhary is the son of former minister Mahavir Chaudhary and father of Samastipur MP Shambhavi Chaudhary.
Rama Nishad, daughter-in-law of former Union Minister Captain Jai Narayan Nishad and wife of former MP Ajay Nishad. Vijay Chaudhary, son of former MLA Jagdish Prasad Chaudhary. Nitin Naveen, son of former MLA Naveen Kishore Sinha. Sunil Kumar, former minister. Chandrika Ram and brother of former MLA Anil Kumar. Leshi Singh, wife of former Samata Party district president late Madhusudan Singh alias Butan Singh, RJD informed.
This comes after Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record 10th time. Apart from Nitish, a total of 25 leaders took oath today.
What is noteworthy is that almost 80% of the newly elected MLAs of WE(S) are relatives of senior leaders, including Jitan Ram Manjhi’s daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law. 12.35% of BJP’s winning MLAs have family connections, including Samrat Chaudhary and Nitish Mishra. 11 winners of JDU come from political families.
Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan conducted the swearing-in ceremony. Apart from Nitish Kumar, a total of 25 leaders took oath in the new NDA-led Bihar Cabinet.
These included Samrat Chaudhary (BJP), Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP), Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JD-U), Bijendra Prasad Yadav (JD-U), Shravan Kumar (JD-U), Mangal Pandey (BJP), Dilip Kumar Jaiswal (BJP) and Ashok Chaudhary (JD-U).
Others who have joined the cabinet include Lacey Singh (JD-U), Madan Sahni (JD-U), Nitin Nabeen (BJP), Ram Kripal Yadav (BJP), Santosh Kumar Suman of HAM(S), Sunil Kumar (JD-U), Mohammad Jama Khan (JD-U) and Sanjay Singh Tiger (BJP).
The list also includes Arun Shankar Prasad (BJP), Surendra Mehta (BJP), Narayan Prasad (BJP), Rama Nishad (BJP), Lakhendra Kumar Roshan (BJP) and Shreyashi Singh (BJP). Additionally, Pramod Kumar (BJP), Sanjay Kumar (LJP), Sanjay Kumar Singh (LJP) and Deepak Prakash (RLM) took oath as ministers.
Many Chief Ministers of NDA ruled states were also present at the swearing-in ceremony. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami among others were present.
Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and LJP (RLD) chief Chirag Paswan, among others, attended the function held at Gandhi Maidan.
The 2025 Bihar Assembly elections were being considered as a litmus test for Nitish Kumar, who has managed to revolve Bihar politics around him in every election in the last 20 years.
Nitish Kumar, 74, has been the chief minister since November 2005, after a short gap of nine months in 2014–15. Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar has staked claim to form the government in Bihar after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 202 assembly seats.