Nitish Kumar set to take oath as Bihar CM for the 10th time
Credit: PTI Photo
Nitish Kumar is set to take oath as the Bihar chief minister for the 10th time on Thursday. Already the state's longest serving chief minister, the Janata Dal (United) leader is set to extend his 20 year stint.
Kumar is one of India's longest serving political leaders, who has survived frequent and multiple switches in alliances and yet has never lost the top post in the Bihar government.
The man has remained at the centre of Bihar politics, winning every assembly election since 2005. He has ensured that he is the most important figure, with the coalition revolving around him, whether he is alligned with the BJP-led NDA or the Mahagathbandhan.
Nitish Kumar's journey
Kumar started his journey with the Janata Dal in 1985 by winning the assembly election. He aligned with Lalu Prasad Yadav when he became Leader of the Opposition in 1989. However, the partnership broke down as Yadav asserted his dominance.
In 1994, Kumar rebelled against Yadav as 14 MPs broke away under the leadership of George Fernandes, forming Janata Dal (George). The new party was engineered by Kumar. It was in 1996 when Kumar made his first major switch, aligning with the BJP where he held key positions in the Vajpayee government between 1998 and 2004.
Nitish Kumar and the Bihar throne
Kumar first took oath as the chief minister of Bihar in 2000, when he was backed by the NDA. However, with no numbers, the government lasted for only seven days.
He returned with a resounding victory in 2005, ending Yadav's 15-year tenure and beginning a new chapter in Bihar politics. Having won 88 seats in the 2005 assembly election, the JD(U) leader grew stronger in 2010, clinching a whooping 115 seats alone. He remained unchallenged till 2013.
In 2013, he surprised everyone including his party members by ending ties with the BJP because Narendra Modi was the prime ministerial candidate. The sudden, yet ideological and calculated move proved to be a turning point. His coalition government broke and brought instability.
Kumar made a stunning comeback in 2015 and rejoined hands with Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal to form the Mahagathbandhan and oppose the BJP wave that had swept through the country in 2014. The two parties presented themselves as a united secular front.
While Mahagathbandhan came to power, it was Yadav's RJD that was the single largest party, but Kumar held the chief ministerial post. In 2017, he walked out of the alliance once again and returned to the top with BJP's support, proving that he would be unmoved even with sudden flips.
The NDA alliance emerged victorious by the barest of margins in 2020, but the 74-year-old stunned everyone in 2022 and accused the BJP of trying to engineer a split in the JD(U), He abandoned the alliance again and rejoined the Mahagathbandhan and returned to the throne.
The partnership with the Mahagathbandhan was short-lived yet again and with the Lok Sabha elections approaching, with another BJP wave around the nation, Kumar returned to the NDA once again and took oath as Bihar's chief minister for the ninth time.
With a landslide win for the NDA in 2025, Kumar is set to take oath for a record 10th time in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and several other NDA leaders and chief ministers.