Rabri retains major portfolios

By Our Staff Correspondent

PATNA, APRIL 2. The Bihar Chief Minister, Mrs. Rabri Devi, today distributed portfolios to members of her jumbo Cabinet.

Though she had inducted a Cabinet Minister earlier, the Chief Minister took two weeks to constitute her Cabinet and another eight days to allocate the portfolios. One reason for the delay was the biennial Rajya Sabha elections and the second was the need for the RJD president, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, to consult Congress(I) leaders.

It is clear from the distribution of portfolios that the RJD president had his way with the Congress(I) leadership. One of the objectives apparently was not to disturb the portfolios held by some senior RJD legislators in the previous Ministries.

One of the major changes is that the Chief Minister has kept to herself the crucial portfolios of Finance and Planning and Development, both of which had been held by Cabinet Ministers in her previous Government. As in the past, she has retained the Home portfolio and the Cabinet Secretariat and Coordination Department.

Mr. Shanker Prasad Tekriwal, the former Finance Minister, has been given the Transport Ministry while other senior Ministers such as Mr. Ramai Ram, Mr. Jagdanand Singh, Mr. Ghulam Sarwar and Dr. Ramchandra Purve retain their old portfolios of Revenue and Land Reforms, Water Resources, Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs.

The RJD also presides over other important Ministries such as Rural Development, Commercial Taxes, Mines, Excise and Jails. Among those whose portfolios have been changed are Mr. Upendra Prasad Verma, Mr. Jai Prakash Narain Yadav and Mr. Abdul Bari Siddiqui. The national spokesman of the RJD, Mr. Shivanand Tiwari, is the new Excise Minister, while Mr. Shakuni Chaudhary is the Health and Family Welfare Minister. The former Union Minister of State, Mr. Taslimuddin, has been made the Building Construction Minister.

The Departments relating to Infrastructure-Road Construction, Energy and Industry have gone to the Congress(I) Ministers, Mr. Phurkan Ansari, Mr. Rajendra Prasad Singh and Mr. Vishwamohan Sharma respectively. The Congress(I) will have to bear criticism of non-performance if they fail to deliver.

The other important portfolios given to Congress(I) legislators are Medical Education (Dr. Shakeel Ahmed), Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Mr. Bagun Sumbrui), and Tourism (Mr. Chandrashekhar Dubey).

The Chief Minister has given the Labour Ministry to the Independent MLA, Mr. Madhav Lal Singh.

There was some resentment among the Congress(I) Ministers, particularly Mr. Vijay Shanker Dubey, who has been given the portfolio of Registration, Mrs. Veena Shahi (Minister for Cooperation) and Mr. Bagun Sumbrui. The CLP leader and the Roads Minister, Mr. Phurkan Ansari, said that he would talk with the central leadership of the party over the Finance portfolio, which he maintained should have been allocated to the Congress(I).

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