Patna/New Delhi, Feb. 27 -- A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the poll bugle in Bihar, the BJP got a huge pounce in the Nitish Kumar led NDA government as the latter inducted seven new faces into his council of ministers incidentally all from alliance partner BJP.

The expansion, which could be the last before the Assembly elections for this year-end are announced, raises the total number of ministers to 36, the maximum permissible in the state with a 243-strong Assembly. A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the Cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" and before that PM visited Bihar for a rally and announceme...