Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United today indicated that they want four berths in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Sources in the party said they are sticking to their stance of 2019 -- that the number of ministerial berths given to a BJP ally should be proportional to its numbers in the Lok Sabha.
"The BJP has 17 MPs, according to which they should have five ministers. We have 16 MPs, so four ministers should be made," said a party source amid a buzz of cabinet expansion at the Centre.
It is this idea of proportional representation that brought Nitish Kumar a rebuff after the 2019 victory. The BJP high command had indicated that with the party winning majority on its own, allies were given symbolic representation in the government, with one ministerial berth each.
Sources said Mr Kumar had argued that the formula cannot work in cases where the ally in question has significant contribution. Allies with far smaller contributions to the NDA victory were getting the same representation in the cabinet, he had said pointing to Lok Janashakti Party and the Akali Dal as examples.
But the BJP had refused to budge and Mr Kumar had turned down the offer, staying away from the government since. Sources in Mr Kumar's party said they can only join when there is proportional representation.
This time, there was a buzz that the party was looking at joining the government at the Centre and senior leader RCP Singh's Delhi visit had set off speculation.
A party source in Delhi, however, told NDTV that Mr Singh has "come for discussions, not to take oath".
"The BJP has four upper caste and one Yadav minister… We want to give representation to the extreme backward castes, Mahadalits," the leader said. "A decision will be taken on joining the Council of Ministers only after talks," he added.
The JDU's remarks came as Pashupati Kumar Paras – the uncle of LJP chief Chirag Paswan who is leading a splinter group of the party – has been vocal about his expectations of a cabinet berth.
"When I take oath as a union minister, I will resign as leader of the parliamentary party", he had told reporters last month after staging the coup against his nephew. Recently, asked whether he had received an invitation to join the Cabinet, Mr Paras said: "Raaz ko raaz rehne do (let secrets be)".
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