NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar’s Chief Minister with a 26-member Cabinet crafted to carefully balance caste groups —an exercise in social engineering that continues to shape the state’s governance. The lineup includes one Muslim, one Yadav, and three women, reinforcing the NDA’s commitment to broad social representation.

The central feature of the new Cabinet is its careful blend of senior leaders and 10 first-time ministers, making clear that caste equations—more than overt development agendas—shaped the final appointments.

As one senior NDA leader put it, “It was the caste-equation that basically helped us with an equal degree of trust in NiMo leadership. So, this time, the Cabinet has given due care in ensuring participation of almost all prominent castes.”

Among the familiar names retained were Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both influential leaders who earlier served as deputy chief ministers. The JD(U) continued with seasoned ministers Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, and Shrawan Kumar.

On the BJP side, Mangal Pandey, Pramod Kumar, Surendra Prasad Mehta, and Nitin Nabin held their ground, whether for caste balance or continuity. A major new entrant was BJP state president Dileep Jaiswal. His inclusion hinted that the party would soon appoint a new state chief under its ‘one person, one post’ policy.