Buzz over who will succeed Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister of Bihar as he heads to Rajya Sabha

Among the names doing the rounds for the post are Samrat Choudhary and Nityanand Rai

Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar's "desire to become a Rajya Sabha member" has paved the way for the formation of a new government in Bihar, with the BJP now appearing poised to have its "own CM" in the only Hindi heartland State where the post has eluded the party.

The writing had been on the wall ever since the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, with 89 seats, in the Assembly polls held less than four months ago, outperforming the JD(U) for the second time after 2020.

The swearing-in ceremony looked like a BJP affair, with the party getting a lion's share in the new Council of Ministers and the all-important Home portfolio. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a number of their Cabinet colleagues, besides Chief Minister's of several States ruled by the BJP.

RJD national working president Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, told reporters, "The BJP has done a Maharashtra in Bihar. It is a party that has always been opposed to Dalits and OBCs. Now, it will seek to implement its agenda in the socialist stronghold."

"We have been saying it since the beginning that the BJP will not let Nitish Kumar remain in the CM chair post elections. This is a refined Maharashtra model...," he said.

Speculations are rife that the BJP may go for a Chief Minister from the weaker sections, mindful of the social realities.

The probable leaders

Among the names doing the rounds for the post is Samrat Choudhary, whom Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had vowed to make "a big man" during the Assembly poll campaign.

Choudhary, currently a Deputy Chief Minister with the crucial portfolio of Home, is a Koeri, an OBC caste which has been sore over never having its "own Chief Minister".

However, it remains to be seen whether the party, known to put a premium on ideology, would be willing to place more trust in Choudhary, who had started off with the RJD and joined the BJP less than a decade ago.

Another name that is doing the rounds is that of Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a Sangh Parivar veteran who started off as a fiery ABVP activist when the Ayodhya movement was at its peak.

Rai is a Yadav, the most populous of all castes in Bihar, which has so far been aligned with former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and his RJD.

There are also speculations that the next Chief Minister of Bihar could be one of the less fancied leaders of the BJP, as has been seen in States like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Odisha.

A PTI report quoted a BJP leader as saying, "We must not completely rule out the possibility of an upper caste Chief Minister. We have demonstrated that the BJP has a place for all. But the Mandal agitation had given rise to an unhealthy impression that henceforth the post of the CM in States shall be out of bounds for the upper castes."

"The BJP has successfully changed that perception in UP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where the caste dynamics are very much in place, but the top post was given on merit. There is no reason why it should not be the case in Bihar as well, given the fact that we have decimated casteist parties like RJD in the last Assembly polls," he said.

(With PTI inputs)