Having returned with a thumping majority and breached the golden 200-mark in the Bihar assembly elections 2025, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has arrived at a one-minister per six MLAs formula for the government formation which will see the dominance of the BJP and the JD (U) in the Bihar council of ministers which is set to be headed by Nitish Kumar.
While the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is pressing hard for one deputy CM post, highly-placed sources confirmed to The Daily Guardian that the BJP which has emerged as the single largest party in the 2025 Bihar assembly elections and the JD(U) which is the second-highest seat gainer in the polls, are not in favour of giving a deputy CM post to Chirag Paswan’s party.
With JD(U) patriarch Nitish Kumar set to be sworn as the Chief Minister for the 10th time, sources said that the BJP is in favour of retaining the posts of two deputy CMs even as the two parties are finalising the names for the ministers of the plum portfolios like finance, commercial taxes, road construction, urban development, revenue and land reforms, excise etc.
With its tally nearly doubled, JD (U) sway set to increase in cabinet
With the JD (U) powered by almost double the number of seats than what it had got in the 2020 assembly polls, the influence of Nitish Kumar’s party is set to increase in the 18th Bihar cabinet with the party looking at increasing its share of ministers in the next government.
While the current caretaker government has 36 ministers, these include 13 ministers from the JD (U), and 21 ministers from the BJP while Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha -Secular (HAM-S) too has one minister along with one independent Sumit Kumar Singh.
Highly-placed NDA sources told TDG that the new government is likely to have 36 or 35 ministers but the difference in the number of ministers from the JD (U) and the BJP is set to reduce.
“The JD (U) has doubled its tally this time and this will reflect in the government too. The difference between the number of ministers from the JD (U) and the BJP is set to decrease. The JD (U) and the BJP may get 15 ministers each or the BJP may get one more. The difference will be very small. There will be three ministers from the LJP-RV and one each from Manjhi’s HAM-S and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM),” a senior NDA leader from Bihar said.
With the JD (U) improving its tally from 43 to 85, the party is set to get more ministerial berths for its leaders too while the BJP will have to leave some of the ministerial berths to include Chirag Paswan’s LJP-RV and the RLM.
Speaking to TDG, JD (U) national spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said that the government is set to take shape in accordance with the sentiments of the public and the effort of the JD (U) will be to ensure that Bihar reaches the list of the top 10 developed states of India in the coming years following the NDA’s path of development.
No Deputy CM post for LJP-RV?
While LJP-RV’s Chirag Paswan has been pressing hard for the post of deputy CM, sources said that neither the JD (U) nor the BJP are in favour of giving one deputy CM post to the LJP-RV which is likely to get three ministerial posts in the cabinet at maximum.
Speaking to TDG, a senior Bihar BJP leader said that the BJP would not like to part with the two deputy CM posts and LJP-RV would not get the post.
“Neither the BJP nor the JD (U) are in favour of giving the deputy CM post to LJP-RV. It is likely to get three ministerial berths at maximum. Among the minister-probables from the LJP-RV are the party’s state president Raju Tiwari who is a Brahmin, Mahua MLA Sanjay Singh -a Rajput who has defeated Lalu Yadav’s son Tej Pratap Yadav from Mahua and Sanjay Paswan, the MLA from Bakhri who is from the Dalit Paswan community. The deputy CM posts will most likely be retained by the BJP,” the leader said.
LJP-RV leaders remained tight-lipped about the possibility of the party getting three ministerial posts in the government which is set to be formed on November 20 or 21 after the Prime Minister’s Office shares its schedule for PM Narendra Modi’s availability for the swearing-in ceremony. Modi is expected to remain present in the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar who is set to be sworn in as the Bihar CM for a record 10th time and will continue his run as the longest serving CM of the state.
Asked about the number of ministerial berths it is set to get, LJP-RV state president Raju Tiwari said that party’s supreme leader Chirag Paswan is in Delhi and has been leading all discussions with the coalition partners.
“Only our leader can tell about the dynamics of the government’s composition,” he said.
From the HAM-S, Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman is most likely to be sworn in as a minister again while Upendra Kushwaha’s wife Snehlata Kushwaha who has won from the Sasaram seat may be inducted into the Nitish cabinet from the RLM quota.
BJP mulling to change its deputy CMs?
Highly-placed BJP sources said that the party may also change its deputy CMs and deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha is being considered for the post of the speaker of the Bihar assembly.
Changes in deputy CMs and other ministers would also be in tune with the BJP’s trend of removing old and well-established ministers in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and bringing new faces depending on the caste equations.
There is no clarity over the role of deputy CM Samrat Choudhary who has faced several serious allegations from Jan Suraaj Party leader Prashant Kishor.
“There have been demands from the rivals to replace him in the wake of the allegations levelled against Samrat Choudhary by Prashant Kishor and former union minister RK Singh too. But removing him from the post would mean that the BJP has admitted to the allegations against him. Moreover, on 30 October 2025, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said during an election rally in Choudhary’s Tarapur assembly constituency that if the public helped Samrat win, “Modi ji will make him a big leader.” So, this possibly settled the debate about Choudhary,” said a senior BJP leader.
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