As both Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Sushil Kumar Modi tried to form an exemplary council of ministers that would serve the National Democratic Alliance government’s second innings both politically and pragmatically, uneasy murmurs of protests were heard from a number of leaders who were denied ministerial berths on Friday.
The choosy Nitish-Modi duo paved the way for 18 MLAs from the JD(U) and 10 from the BJP take oath as ministers in separate closed-door meetings with senior leaders of their respective parties on Thursday night. The process led to the JD(U) eliminating four ministers in the last government who won the Assembly polls and inducting seven new faces. The BJP similarly rejected four of its previous ministers and brought in five new faces.
While discontent in the JD(U) is currently muted due to the weight of Mr Kumar’s towering leadership, murmurs of protests had started within the BJP on Friday evening.
Sources in the two parties said a number of senior MLAs who were keen to become ministers but were ignored in the tough scrutiny had started venting their displeasure.
The BJP’s MLA from Kumhrar in Patna, Mr Arun Kumar Sinha, who had won the polls by a large margin of over 60,000 votes, reportedly told senior BJP leaders that denial of a ministerial berth “might not work for the party for long”.
Another disgruntled senior leader was Amarendra Pratap Singh of the BJP. What these leaders indicated, according to sources, was that there were several others who were feeling similarly disappointed and may revolt.
Many JD(U) legislators were reportedly upset because ministerial berths were awarded to some leaders who had for long been familiar faces in the Opposition parties.
In the 30-member Cabinet that took oath on Friday, the crucial balance of castes and communities was worked out by having 11 ministers from the upper castes, nine from the backward castes, two Muslims, and four each from the Extremely Backward Castes and the Scheduled Castes.