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Nitish Kumar is back in the Cabinet

Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar was today re-inducted into the Council of Ministers with Cabinet rank while Biju Janata Dal members Arjun Sethi and Brij Kishore Tripathi were sworn in as Cabinet minister and minister of state with independent charge, respectively.

The ministers were sworn in by President K R Narayanan at a brief function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The expansion, described as 'minor', was effected by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee only to fill certain vacancies. It is clear that Vajpayee was conscious that any major expansion of his jumbo Cabinet may lead to some embarrassment.

Contrary to expectations, no Bharatiya Janata Party member was inducted. Sethi is tipped to take the portfolio of mines and minerals in place of Naveen Patnaik, who has now become chief minister of Orissa, while Tripathi is likely to get the steel portfolio, replacing party colleague Dilip Ray.

With this, the strength of the Union Council of Ministers goes up to 74, comprising 29 Cabinet ministers, seven ministers of state with independent charge and 38 ministers of state.

UNI

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