NewDelhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday expanded his Cabinet by inducting 27 new ministers from his Janata Dal (United) and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy at a function at Raj Bhavan in Patna by Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi. The ministry was expanded a day after the new JD(U)-NDA government won the confidence vote in the Assembly.

Vijendra Prasad Yadav of the JD(U) was the first to take oath followed by the BJP's Prem Kumar, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the previous JD(U)-RJD-Congress government. Others who took oath included the JD(U)'s Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan and the BJP's Nand Kishore Yadav and Manju Verma. Mangal Pandey of the BJP, who was also party in-charge of Himachal Pradesh, could not come on time for the oath-taking.

While 14 from the JD(U) were made ministers, the NDA's share was 12 from the BJP, one from the LJP -- Pashupati Kumar Paras, a brother of Union minister Ramvilas Paswan. Besides Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi, LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan and the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly Vijay Kumar Choudhary attended the swearing-in function.