JOIN USLife has come a full circle for Nitish Kumar, who took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the fifth time on Friday.
His father Ram Lakhan Babu was a freedom fighter. Being close to then veteran Congress leader Anugrah Narayan Sinha (grandfather of former Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar), Babu sought ticket from Congress to contest polls in 1952 and 1957. On both occasions, he was denied the opportunity.
As a consequence, the 1951-born Nitish, after becoming a teenager, developed a strong disliking for Congress party. As a student during his college days (studying electrical engineering in Bihar College of Engineering, Patna in the 70s), he joined the Jayaprakash Narayan’s agitation and became an integral part of the Sampoorna Kranti (total revolution) movement. He was also jailed during Emergency.
In 1985, he became an MLA for the first time, followed by winning the Lok Sabha election from Barh in November 1989. The then prime minister V P Singh appointed him as a Union minister of state for agriculture. This was followed by his elevation in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet as Railway, Agriculture and Surface Transport minister in different period from 1998 to 2004.
In 2005, he was declared NDA’s chief ministerial candidate. The same year, he uprooted Lalu and Rabri’s 15 years of rule in Bihar. Ten years down the line, he is at the helm with the support of same person (whom he upstaged) and the same Congress he and his father abhorred.