Bihar Political Turmoil: BJP Ensures Right Caste Balance In Newly Inducted Cabinet Ahead Of Lok Sabha Elections 2024

President Nitish Kumar, who was sworn in as chief minister for the 9th term, and the BJP attempted to strike a right caste balance in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha election and state assembly election next year. In view of Bihar's caste-based politics, Nitish has given adequate representation to all politically influential castes in Bihar. While Nitish himself belongs to the Kurmi caste, which constitutes 2.87 per cent of the state's population, another senior leader, Shravan Kumar, who has served as a minister in previous governments, also belongs to the Kurmi caste.

Two senior BJP leaders, Samarat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Singh, have been made deputy chief ministers in the new NDA government. Choudhary belongs to the Koeri caste, which constitutes nearly 4.21 per cent of the state's populace. Kurmi-Koeri caste combination is known as the 'Luv-Kush' base, known as the strong support base of Nitish. The other Deputy Chief Minister, Vijay Kumar Sinha, belongs to the politically influential upper caste, Bhumihar, which constitutes nearly 2.86 per cent of the state's population. Another prominent Bhumihar leader, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who has served as a minister in successive governments, has also been inducted with the objective of consolidating the votes of the upper castes.

To consolidate the upper caste votes, Nitish also inducted Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh into the cabinet. Singh belongs to the Rajput caste, which constitutes 3.45 per cent of the population.

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