Patna: With less than a year left for assembly polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday inducted seven new faces into his council of ministers, all from alliance partner BJP. The expansion, which could be the last before the elections are announced, raises the total number of ministers to 36, the maximum permissible in the state with a 243-strong assembly.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan administered the oath of office to the new ministers who all are members of the assembly.

The state also has a legislative council. The development took place on a day state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, the former minister for revenue and landforms, gave up his cabinet berth citing the party’s policy of “one person, one post”.

The new ministers include Jibesh Kumar, who was a member of the state Cabinet till August 2022, when the chief minister abruptly quit the NDA, accusing the BJP of trying to “break” his JD(U). Jibesh Kumar, who returns to the state cabinet with just two days left for the commencement of the budget session, told reporters: “I am ready to discharge the responsibility to the best of my ability”.