Bihar has emerged as a powerhouse in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s choice for ministers as the state bagged eight seats in the Council of Ministers.
Bihar
1. Chirag Paswan
Rank: Cabinet
Portfolio:
Born on 31 October 1982, Chirag Kumar Paswan is the inaugural president of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) since 2021. He previously served as the second president of the Lok Janshakti Party from 2019 to 2021 and is currently a Member of Parliament representing the Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency since 2024. Chirag is the son of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, a distinguished Member of Parliament and Union Minister.
2. Giriraj Singh
Rank: Cabinet
Portfolio:
Born on 8 September 1952, Giriraj Singh is served as the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the 23rd Government of India holding a cabinet minister position. Representing the Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency, he was a member of the 17th Lok Sabha. Singh previously held various ministerial roles, including Minister of Cooperative, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries Resources Development in the Bihar Government.
Singh won the Begusari seat by 81,480 votes.
3. Jitan Ram Manjhi
Rank: Cabinet
Portfolio:
Manjhi won the Gaya parliamentary seat with a margin of 1,02,263 votes.
Born on 6 October 1944, Jitan Ram Manjhi served as the 23rd Chief Minister of the state from May 20, 2014 to February 20, 2015. He is the founder of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). Manjhi has held multiple ministerial roles, including serving as the Minister for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet. His political career spans several decades, with stints in various state governments under Chief Ministers Chandrashekhar Singh, Bindeshwari Dubey, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Jagannath Mishra, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Rabri Devi. Currently, he represents Gaya in the Lok Sabha, having secured his seat in the 2024 Indian General Election.
Since 1980, Manjhi has been a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. His political journey includes affiliations with the Indian National Congress (1980–1990), Janata Dal (1990–1996), Rashtriya Janata Dal (1996–2005), and JD(U) (2005–2015). Expelled from JD(U) after the political crisis in February 2015, Manjhi emerged as a significant Dalit leader in Bihar. He founded the Hindustani Awam Morcha in May 2015 and was granted “Z”-plus security cover by the Union Home Ministry in July 2015.
4. Ramnath Thakur
Rank: Minister of State
Portfolio:
Ramnath Kumar, a two-term Rajya Sabha MP from the Janata Dal (United), is poised to join the Union Cabinet in the third term of the Narendra Modi government. He is the son of the legendary socialist leader and former Chief Minister of Bihar, Karpoori Thakur, who was honoured with the Bharat Ratna by the Modi administration earlier this year.
5. Lalan Singh
Rank: Cabinet
Portfolio:
Born on 24 January 1955, Rajnath Ranjan Singh, widely known as Lalan Singh served as the Member of Parliament for Munger in the 17th Lok Sabha, representing the Janata Dal (United). He previously held the position of national president of the JD(U) from 31 July 2021 to 29 December 2023 and was the head of the Bihar unit of the party.
He won the Munger Lok Sabha seat in 2024.
After a setback in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he was appointed to the Bihar Legislative Council in June 2014. Lalan Singh had earlier represented the Munger Lok Sabha constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha and the Begusarai constituency in the 14th Lok Sabha.
6. Nityanand Rai
Rank: Minister of State
Portfolio:
Nityanand Rai, born Nityanand Rai Yadav on January 1, 1966, served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Government of India. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ujiarpur in the 2014 and 2019 General Elections as a BJP candidate. Prior to his parliamentary tenure, Rai represented the Hajipur constituency in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, having won elections consecutively since 2000, including terms in February 2005, October 2005, and 2010.
In the Ujiarpur constituency of Bihar, the election was fiercely contested, with Nityanand Rai of the BJP winning by a margin of 60,102 votes. Rai garnered 5,15,965 votes, while his closest competitor, Alok Kumar Mehta of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, received 4,55,863 votes.
7. Satish Chandra Dubey
Rank: Minister of State
Portfolio:
Born on May 2, 1975, Satish Chandra Dubey as served as a Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha. He represented the Valmiki Nagar constituency, having won the 2014 Indian general election as a BJP candidate. Prior to his tenure in the Lok Sabha, Dubey was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly from Natkatiaganj in 2010. Additionally, he is a member of the Standing Committee on Labour.
He won the seat again in this edition of Lok Sabha Election in 2024.
8. Raj Bhushan Choudhary
Rank: Minister of State
Portfolio:
Raj Bhushan Choudhary from BJP represents the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency as a Member of Parliament. In the 2024 Indian general election, Choudhary secured a victory in the Muzaffarpur seat by defeating Ajay Nishad of the Congress with a margin of 150,936 votes.
Link to article –
Modi 3.0: With eight ministerial positions, Bihar makes a mark in India’s newest government
