Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 | 'Who am I to decide whether Nitish Kumar will be CM or not', says Amit Shah

Patna: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday met JD (U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the CM’s residence here in Patna but remained non-committal on declaring Nitish as the chief ministerial face of the the NDA.

“Who am I to decide who will be the Chief Minister of Bihar? “said Shah, while participating in a discussion organised by a media house, wherein he was specifically asked whether Nitish will be the chief minister again if the NDA was voted back to power?

“There are many parties within the NDA. It is for the elected legislators to select the chief minister,” said Shah while steering clear on declaring Nitish as the CM face.

“We are contesting the election under Nitish’s leadership. We have full trust in Nitish Kumar. So has the people of Bihar,” said Shah, aware of the fact that Nitish is apparently upset over not being declared as the NDA CM face either by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Amit Shah, the second most influential person in the saffron brigade.

Till two days back, Nitish was also upset over the seat sharing arrangement where the JD (U) and the BJP are contesting on 101 seats each. This is for the first time in the last two decades where the ruling party JD (U) and its ally BJP will be contesting the same number of seats, in contrast to earlier arrangements where the JD (U) contested on more seats after insisting on ‘big brother’ tag.

The BJP, which has meticulously stitched its alliance within the NDA and addressed concerns of junior allies like Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi, on Friday tried to mollify Nitish too.

Shah at Nitish's house

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday drove down to Nitish’s CM residence – 1, Aney Marg where Nitish and Shah had a 45-minute meeting. Though what transpired between the two was not immediately known, the NDA leaders called it a “courtesy call.”

Sources in the ruling party conceded that Nitish’s concern over few JD (U) seats being allotted to Chirag Paswan’s LJP (R) was also discussed between the two and the “issue got settled through talks between them”.

Shah praises Nitish

Later in the day, Shah showered encomiums on Nitish at the party rally in Saran. “It was Nitish who freed you from Jungle Raj, established the rule of law and put Bihar on the fast track of growth,” Shah kept showering praise on Nitish.

The Union Home Minister also lashed out the Mahagatbandhan and questioned Tejashwi Yadav how he would establish the rule of law in Bihar with persons like Osama Shahab (son of Siwan terror and former RJD MP late Md Shahabuddin) by his side who is contesting on an RJD ticket.