Nitish to Take Oath as Bihar CM Today; All Eyes on Deputy CM Post as Names of Tarkishore Prasad, Renu Devi do Rounds

All eyes are now set on Bihar Deputy Chief Minister post. Reports have it that Sushil Modi, who carried the post of Bihar deputy CM in the last tenure, will step down from the role and the BJP will appoint a new face for the position.

New Delhi: Janata Dal United (JDU) President Nitish Kumar is set to take oath as Bihar Chief Minister on Monday. Further, around 16 to 17 ministers are expected to be sworn-in along with Chief Minister-designate Nitish Kumar during the oath-taking ceremony today.

According to sources, there will be seven ministers each from the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and one each from the Sahani’s VIP and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular.

Who will get the role of Deputy CM?

All eyes are now set on the Deputy Chief Minister post. Reports have it that Sushil Modi, who carried the post of Bihar deputy CM in the last tenure, will step down from the role and the BJP will appoint a new face for the position.

A cryptic tweet by Sushil Modi also fuelled the speculation that he may not continue as Nitish’s deputy. “Few might have got from the BJP and the RSS as much as I did in my 40 years of political career. I will fulfill whatever responsibility that comes my way in future. Nobody can, after, all, snatch away from me the post of a party worker,” Modi tweeted.

The names of Tarkishore Prasad, a Vaishya who is known to be close to Sushil Modi, and Renu Devi an Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) who was formerly the party’s national vice president kept doing the rounds for the Deputy CMs post though no official confirmation came till late in the evening.

A section of media also reported that Bihar is likely to get two deputy CMs this time, Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi. Prasad was on Sunday named as BJP legislature party leader while Devi as the deputy.

Who is Tarkishore Prasad?

Not much is known about Prasad in the political circles. He hails from the Kalwar caste, which is a part of the Vaishya community that comes under the backward class category.

The 52-year-old BJP leader has risen from the ranks of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an affiliate of the RSS. Prasad has been winning the Katihar constituency since October 2005.

He passed the Intermediate (10+2) exam in the science stream from DS College in Katihar in 1974 and has shown agriculture as his profession in the affidavit submitted during the recently-held elections.

Who is Renu Devi?

Renu Devi is from the Noniya caste, which is an extremely backward class community. She has been elected four times from Bettiah and was a minister during Nitish Kumar’s second term as chief minister.

All eyes on cabinet share

With the BJP emerging as the largest party in the NDA with 74 MLAs and the JD(U)’s tally going down to 43 from 71, it would be interesting to see if the saffron party, which has sacrificed the post of the chief minister in honour of its pre-poll promise, will insist on having a larger share in the cabinet.