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Rabri retains finance, home while distributing portfolios

A Correspondent in Patna

After being clueless for eight long days, the ministers of Rabri Devi's second government in Bihar finally got their portfolios today.

The new ministry largely resembles the previous Rashtriya Janata Dal government in the state as most ministers have retained their portfolios.

Surprisingly, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav paid no heed to any of the Congress demands, be it for allocation of plum portfolios or appointment of technocrats as the finance, agriculture and health ministers.

The 20 Congress ministers in the state -- the remaining two party legislators are yet to take oath -- have been given departments that are either not very significant or had no full-fledged minister in the previous government.

Rabri Devi, like her husband in his first term as chief minister, has retained finance. Moreover, she gave no indication whether she would appoint a full-fledged finance minister soon. She has also retained home, minority welfare, the cabinet secretariat and half a dozen other departments.

Shankar Prasad Tekriwal, finance minister in the last government, is now the transport minister. And in a major blow to the Congress, water resources, land revenue and agriculture have been retained by RJD warhorses Jagtanand Singh, Ramai Ram and Ghulam Sarwar, respectively. The Congress had an eye on all these departments. Instead, it has got road construction, power, industry, co-operation, registration, tribal development, health education, forests and family welfare.

There was no minister for road construction or industry in the previous government after the arrest of Ilyas Hussain and the resignation of Baidyanath Pandey, respectively, late last year. Rabri Devi had handed over these two portfolios to other ministers as a stopgap because the assembly election was round the corner.

At the same time, since former health minister Mahavir Prasad has not been made a minister this time, Rabri Devi has split the department, giving health to senior RJD politician Shakuni Chaudhary and health education, indigenous medicine and family welfare to Dr Shakeel Ahmed of the Congress.

In similar manner, tribal development has gone to Bagum Sombrai of the Congress because the minister in charge of this department in the last Cabinet, Govardhan Naik of the RJD, was not elected this time.

Except for road construction, power and industry, Congressmen have got insignificant departments. Congress Legislature Party leader Furquan Ansari has become road construction minister while power has gone to Rajindra Singh and industry to Vishwa Mohan Sharma.

Veena Shahi, who had openly opposed the Congress Working Committee's decision to support the Rabri Devi government, is the new co-operative minister. Similarly, Vijay Shankar Dubey, the new registration minister, is not too pleased with his portfolio.

Laloo Yadav's confidant and national RJD spokesman Shivanand Tiwary is the new excise minister while Patna high court lawyer and state spokesman of the party, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, is the new law minister.

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