Thirty-two leaders from the five-party NDA alliance were sworn in as ministers in Bihar on Thursday, expanding the state's Cabinet under the leadership of Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary. The oath-taking ceremony, held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, was conducted by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Union Health Minister J P Nadda.

The BJP, the largest party in the 243-member Assembly with 89 MLAs, has 15 ministers in the cohort, while the JD(U) also has 15, including Nishant Kumar, who entered the state legislature after his father Nitish Kumar resigned as chief minister to join the Rajya Sabha. Two ministers each were inducted from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, maintaining the alliance's coalition balance.

Among the returning ministers are Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan from the LJP(RV), and Santosh Kumar Suman and Deepak Prakash, representing the political heirs of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha, respectively. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who were sworn in earlier with Choudhary as deputy chief ministers, were not part of Thursday's list.

The newly inducted ministers are expected to assume departmental responsibilities immediately, with the state government scheduled to hold its first Cabinet meeting next week to finalize portfolio allocations.