Bihar: Bihar’s new minister, Shweta Gupta: When the Bihar cabinet was expanded on Thursday at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, most eyes were on Nishant Kumar, the son of former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, taking his first steps into active politics. But alongside him, a relatively lesser-known name quietly made her ministerial debut Dr Shweta Gupta, JDU MLA from Shivhar, a doctor by profession who had never contested an election before 2025. Thirty-two ministers in total took the oath of office and secrecy in Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary’s expanded cabinet, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Fifteen ministers were appointed from the BJP quota and thirteen from the JDU quota.
Who Is Shweta Gupta?
Shweta Gupta is a 44-year-old postgraduate doctor originally from Sitamarhi, who built a solid reputation in the medical community across both Sitamarhi and Shivhar before stepping into politics. She was previously associated with the BJP at a local level before the JDU expressed confidence in her and handed her the Shivhar ticket for the 2025 assembly elections, a seat that required some internal rearrangement to make available.
The JDU moved its sitting MLA Chetan Anand from Shivhar to Nabinagar in Aurangabad to create space for Gupta. She repaid that confidence comprehensively, defeating RJD’s Navneet Kumar by a commanding margin of 31,398 votes in her electoral debut. No criminal cases are registered against her.
According to her election affidavit, Gupta’s total assets stand at approximately Rs 28.4 crore, comprising movable assets of Rs 6.6 crore and immovable assets of Rs 21.8 crore. Her annual income is approximately Rs 74.4 lakh, and she carries liabilities of Rs 4.1 crore. Her husband, Dr Varun Kumar, is also a physician in Sitamarhi, and the family runs several businesses including hospitals, schools and restaurants.
The Wider Cabinet
Beyond Gupta and Nishant Kumar, several other new faces received their first ministerial opportunity on Thursday. From the BJP, Mithilesh Tiwari and Nand Kishore were among four first-time ministers. Sanjay Singh and Sanjay Paswan were inducted from LJP (Ram Vilas), Santosh Suman from Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM, and Deepak Prakash, son of Upendra Kushwaha, from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha.
The full list of JDU ministers sworn in on Thursday includes Nishant Kumar, Shrawan Kumar, Madan Sahni, Lesi Singh, Shweta Gupta, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Damodar Rawat, Bulo Mandal, Sunil Kumar, Sheela Mandal, Ratnesh Sada, Jama Khan and Ashok Chaudhary.
The expansion follows the NDA’s landslide victory in the Bihar assembly elections, in which the alliance won 202 of the 243 seats. Samrat Choudhary was sworn in as Bihar’s first BJP Chief Minister last month, with Thursday’s ceremony completing the full formation of his cabinet.
Leave a Reply