Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Samrat Chaudhary (Photo-PTI)

Samrat Chaudhary likely to be next Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar to resign next week

Sources tell India Today that Nitish Kumar is likely to resign as Bihar's Chief Minister on April 14, when the NDA legislative party is expected to meet to elect the next chief minister.

by · India Today

In Short

  • Nitish Kumar's 20-year tenure as Bihar CM is ending
  • He will take oath as Rajya Sabha MP on Friday
  • Samrat Chaudhary is favourite to succeed him as CM

JDU supremo Nitish Kumar's two-decade-long tenure as the Chief Minister of Bihar is nearing its end. He has departed for New Delhi to take oath as a Rajya Sabha MP on Friday. Sanjay Jha and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who will also be sworn-in as members of the Rajya Sabha, are accompanying him.

Sources tell India Today that he is likely to resign as Bihar's Chief Minister on April 14, when the NDA legislative party is expected to meet to elect the next chief minister.

Samrat Chaudhary, the current deputy chief minister, is the favourite to succeed Kumar as the Bihar CM. He is on his way to New Delhi to meet with the BJP's central leadership over the leadership change in Bihar, say sources.

Kumar began the process of his relocation to New Delhi on March 30, when he resigned as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council.

The 10-term CM won his Rajya Sabha election, along with four other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates, on March 17.

Kumar filed his nomination papers for the election on March 5, after announcing his decision to quit as the Bihar CM to fulfil his long-held "desire to become a member of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature and both Houses of Parliament."

The declaration came barely months after he had led the NDA to a commanding electoral victory in the state, reaffirming his relevance in a political landscape he had shaped for over two decades.

His ally-turned-rival, RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav, has claimed that Nitish Kumar was "forced" to go to the Rajya Sabha at the instance of JD(U)'s main coalition partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly has also said that the saffron party was out to "finish off" the JD(U).

Several political analysts have said that Kumar's move to the Upper House of Parliament will reduce him to a mere figurehead and significantly reduce his party's regional influence.

- Ends