Allocation of Portfolios in Bihar Government: CM Samrat Chaudhary to Oversee 29 Ministries

Patna: The allocation of portfolios within the Bihar government has finally been finalized. Under the new arrangement, the responsibility for key ministries has been distributed among the new Chief Minister, Samrat Chaudhary, and the two Deputy Chief Ministers, in an effort to accelerate the pace of government operations. Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary has retained the largest share of responsibilities for himself; he has kept a total of 29 departments under his charge, including the highly critical Home Department. With the Home Department under his purview, Samrat Chaudhary will play a pivotal role in decisions related to the state’s law and order situation.

Meanwhile, Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has been entrusted with the responsibility of 10 departments. Having previously played significant roles in the government, he has once again been assigned key portfolios. Additionally, the second Deputy CM, Bijendra Yadav, has been allocated 8 departments. Bijendra Yadav has long been an active figure in Bihar politics, and given his extensive administrative experience, he too has been assigned major responsibilities. This departmental allocation by the government is being viewed as an attempt to strike a balance, placing a strong emphasis on enhancing administrative efficiency by entrusting key ministries to seasoned leaders.

However, an interesting aspect of this arrangement is that the two leaders from the Janata Dal (United)—Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Yadav—have collectively been assigned only 18 departments, a figure significantly lower than the 29 departments held solely by Samrat Chaudhary. Consequently, discussions are intensifying within political circles that CM Samrat Chaudhary’s stature has risen even further following this distribution of portfolios. Samrat Chaudhary holds these 29 departments:
General Administration, Home, Cabinet Secretariat, Monitoring, Election, Revenue and Land Reforms, Mines and Geology, Urban Development and Housing, Health, Law, Industries, Road Construction, Agriculture, Minor Water Resources, Labour Resources and Migrant Workers’ Welfare, Youth, Employment and Skill Development, Tourism, Art and Culture, Dairy, Fisheries and Animal Resources, Disaster Management, Welfare of Backward and Extremely Backward Classes, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Information Technology, Sports, Cooperation, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Sugarcane Industries, Public Health Engineering, Panchayati Raj, and all such departments that have not been allocated to anyone else.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has been allocated these 10 departments:
Water Resources, Parliamentary Affairs, Information and Public Relations, Building Construction, Minority Welfare, Education, Science, Technology and Technical Education, Rural Development, Transport, and Higher Education.

Bijendra Yadav has been allocated these 8 departments:
Energy, Planning and Development, Prohibition, Excise and Registration, Finance, Commercial Taxes, Social Welfare, Food and Consumer Protection, and Rural Works.