Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi at the oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, May 20: Jitan Ram Manjhi today took oath as the 32nd chief minister of Bihar along with a 16-member cabinet, the shape and contours of which bore the stamp of Nitish Kumar loud and clear.

The 14 members of Nitish’s cabinet, all JD(U) legislators, will be part of the Manjhi ministry and retain their old portfolios. The two new additions are Dularchand Goswami and Vinay Bihari, Independent MLAs from Balrampur in Katihar and Lauria in West Champaran, who have been given the portfolios of labour resources and youth and cultural affairs respectively.

Governor D.Y. Patil, who administered the oath of office and secrecy to Manjhi, 68, and his band of 16 at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan, has asked the new government to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly on May 23. Nitish was present as were representatives from almost all political parties, including the BJP, RJD and the Congress.

Absent at the ceremony was JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, though party sources insisted “too much” should not be read into his not being there.

Manjhi will keep with himself all the 16 portfolios, including finance, personnel and home, which Nitish oversaw. But even though it was Manjhi’s hour of glory, the spotlights were firmly focussed on his redoubtable predecessor, who quit as chief minister on Saturday accepting moral responsibility for the electoral drubbing of the JD(U). Nitish, whose move was also aimed at quelling dissension in the party, handpicked his successor, preferring the low-profile Manjhi, who belongs to the Mahadalit Musahar community.

Asked about the BJP’s allegation that he will “remote control” the Manjhi government, Nitish said: “The government will functional independently. I am there to guard it from the BJP which will always conspire to destabilise our government.”

But the remarks of the chief minister made it abundantly clear who was the real boss. “The government will implement the roadmap already prepared by Nitishji. In the capacity of our supreme leader, Nitishji is always there to guide us,” Manjhi said.