Patna, June 17: Till the other day, they used to rule. Now emotion rules over them — the former ministers.

Even as several high-ranking officials cast a doubt over the future of development projects initiated by the respective departments headed by the BJP ministers, the outgoing cabinet colleagues of chief minister Nitish Kumar still hope that nothing would change on the ground.

“I am hopeful that new ministers would take up the projects with full enthusiasm as Nitish takes personal interest in the tourism department and most of the projects have been his brainchild only,” said former tourism minister Sunil Kumar.

Almost in the same voice, road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, who took a personal interest in the ambitious Ganga Driveway project in Patna, said: “I want the project to be successful irrespective of any odds. I am hopeful that the new minister would take it up with same dedication.”

The fate of several projects started by the 11 BJP ministers — who were dropped from the cabinet yesterday when the NDA split — is not known but senior bureaucrats felt a sense of despair in the empty corridors of power today. “I normally don’t take much interest in politics but my eyes were glued to the television set over the past two days, watching minute-by-minute updates of the turmoil. The workplace is usually quite busy on Mondays but today the buzz is missing,” said a senior bureaucrat in the urban development and housing department, which used to be headed by Prem Kumar.

Several ambitious schemes like Patna Metro, water supply and housing projects envisaging development of 25,000 flats in the state among others took off during Kumar’s tenure. “We are not worried about bigger projects, which have already been approved by the cabinet. It is the smaller projects, like those under the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana among others, sanctioned at the level of ministers, that are likely to be affected.,” the official said.

A city trader on condition of anonymity said: “The decision on waiving of entry taxes on electrical goods and bringing down the entry tax on raw material were in the final stages as former finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi was keen on solving these issues.”

He also spoke on simplification in the process of reimbursement of VAT to traders, in which Modi had taken a keen interest. Senior officials of the health department also cast apprehensions regarding progress in the project of setting up a virology lab at Patna Medical College and Hospital. A health department official said: “Ashwini Kumar Choubey had taken keen interest on setting up a national institute of virology in Patna like the one in Pune.”