Nitish appoints cabinet colleagues as ‘ministers in-charge’ of various districts

Patna: Eyeing the 2025 assembly elections, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday appointed all his cabinet colleagues as ‘ministers in charge’ of various districts.

Assembly elections in Bihar are due in October-November 2025, and it is believed that these ministers would ensure better and speedy implementation of different central and state government projects and ensure their timely implementation.

According to an order issued by the cabinet secretariat department, the two deputy chief ministers — Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha — have been made ministers-in-charge of Patna and Muzaffarpur districts, respectively. Sinha will also be in charge of Bhojpur district.

As per the notification, senior Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and state finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary has been made in charge of the Purnea and Nalanda districts, while JD(U) veteran Bijendra Prasad Yadav will be minister in charge of Vaishali district.

The order further states that Prem Kumar will oversee Nawada, Shrawan Kumar (Samastipur and Madhepura), Santosh Kumar Suman (Aurangabad), Sumit Kumar Singh (Saran), and Renu Devi will oversee Siwan. Additionally, Mangal Pandey will oversee Darbhanga and Begusarai, Niraj Kumar Singh will manage Katihar, and Ashok Chowdhary will take care of Sitamarhi and Jehanabad.

Further, according to the order, Leshi Singh will be in charge of Madhubani, Madan Sahni (Supaul), Nitish Mishra (Araria and Gaya), Nitin Nabin (Buxar and Kaimur), and Dilip Kumar Jaiswal of Saharsha. Meanwhile, Maheshwar Hazari will oversee Khagaria, Sheila Kumari (Sheikhpura and Lakhisarai), and Sunil Kumar will handle East Champaran. Janak Ram will oversee West Champaran, Hari Sahni (Arwal), and Krishnanandan Paswan will be responsible for Gopalganj. Jayant Raj will oversee Rohtas, Jama Khan (Kishanganj and Sheohar), and Ratnesh Sada will be in charge of Jamui.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had already announced that it would contest the assembly polls under the leadership of Kumar. 

BJP minister Nitish Mishra called the appointment a routine matter. “Due to the model code of conduct, this was on hold. Ministers in charge of districts are the head of programme implementation of respective districts. They have the right to monitor programmes, pass instructions, etc.,” said Mishra.

Experts feel that with assembly elections a year away, these ministers, in addition to speedy implementation of work, would definitely likely consolidate their vote banks. “I am not sure how much work would be implemented, but definitely they would like to consolidate their target, strengthen the organisation and see the mood,” said D M Diwakar, former director of AN Sinha Institute for Social Studies.