Patna, Aug 14 : The CPI (ML) has decided not to take any ministerial berth in the new government in Bihar. Dipankar Bhattacharya, the national general secretary of CPI (ML), made the announcement on Saturday. The cabinet expansion of the new Nitish Kumar government is scheduled on August 16. CPI (ML) has 12 MLAs in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha. "We are part of the seven party government in Bihar but we will not take any ministerial berth in it. The Bihar Chief Minister has taken an extremely bold decision in the interest of the nation which is highly appreciable. We will fully support him for the smooth functioning of this government," Bhattacharya said. "We met Nitish Kumar on Saturday and expressed our point of view. Our goal is to bring prosperity among common people of Bihar and not to achieve power," he said. "Nitish Kumar was feeling suffocated while staying with BJP and the Centre. Now, he got a huge relief. He told us that he wants to take a breath in the open air now," the CPI (ML) leader added. "The BJP was having a dictatorial attitude in the state. It has the same tendency in rest of the country. BJP wants to destroy every Opposition party in the country and make such an impression among common people that the 2024 Lok Sabha election would not happen or it would be a mere formality. They want to use the soil of Bihar as a laboratory to execute the communal agenda. Nitish Kumar has put a brake on it and foiled their aim," Bhattacharya asserted. "We want the new government to make a common minimum programme. It is required because the left parties, the RJD and the Congress contested the 2020 Assembly elections with a common manifesto while the JD-U, which had contested along with the BJP, had different manifesto," he said. /IANS