From landslide to exit plan: The Nitish puzzle in Bihar

Rajya Sabha move sparks speculation on the JD(U) chief’s future

Patna: In November 2025, the NDA romped home in 202 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. Such a landslide was beyond anyone’s imagination. Even Union Home Minister Amit Shah, camping in Patna throughout the polls, had projected that the NDA would win around 160 seats.

The keenly-watched election was contested with Nitish Kumar as the NDA’s chief-ministerial face. All the bigwigs — from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Union ministers — sang paeans to the Bihar CM.

Eventually, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 89 MLAs in its kitty. However, the JD(U) was not far behind: Its 85-seat win was a much better performance than the 2020 polls, where it was restricted to merely 45 seats.

Undeclared plan

“The BJP, which always had an ‘undeclared plan’ to upstage Nitish and appoint its own man the Bihar CM, reportedly decided not to replace him immediately even though it was the single largest party,” said Giridhar Jha, the editor of a national Hindi-language magazine.

“The reason? The NDA got its mandate by using Nitish’s name, and it would not have been prudent to replace the JD(U) strongman who, healthwise, was becoming weak. Such ‘deceit’ would have given the BJP a bad name,” he argued.

Therefore, the saffron camp, even NDA sources aver, decided to wait and watch for the right moment, till after the euphoria over the unexpected win subsided. The Rajya Sabha election — scheduled for this month — gave the BJP that opportunity.

Changing colours

On March 4, when the whole of Bihar was busy celebrating Holi, Nitish was sitting at his official residence and holding confabulations with his closest aides: Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Jha, Union minister Lallan Singh, and Bihar minister Vijay Choudhary. He was preparing the ground to change colours.

Though exactly what transpired between them was not known immediately, Choudhary eventually dropped ample hints that Nitish would file his nomination papers on March 5 — the last day to do so — for the Rajya Sabha elections.

This took the nation in general, and Bihar in particular, by surprise. Nitish’s supporters rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Many took to the streets, squatted near the CM’s residence, staged a dharna, and shouted slogans against Sanjay Jha and Lallan Singh in particular.

Both were accused by Nitish’s men of working at the BJP’s behest on an agenda to remove Nitish from the CM’s post and offer him virtually a retirement posting — a Rajya Sabha berth.

Three peers

Sanjay Jha had to bear the brunt of the attacks, followed by Lallan Singh, for the “downgrading” of Nitish. Sanjay Jha, a Maithil Brahmin, was a BJP MLC when Nitish took the reins of Bihar in 2005. Though not a JD(U) member, Jha used to be Nitish’s shadow at every meet.

Originally a protege of Arun Jaitely, with whom Nitish shared a cordial relationship, Jha climbed the ladder and crossed over to the JD(U) before becoming the water resources minister in Nitish’s Cabinet. Later, he became a Rajya Sabha member and was rewarded with the post of the JD(U)’s national working president.

Lallan Singh, an upper-caste Bhumihar, has been with Nitish right from the Lok Dal days. He was also by Nitish’s side when the latter floated the Samata Party, a pocket organisation, in 1994. Lallan went on to become the JD(U)’s Bihar president before being appointed its national president, and then elevated as a Union minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet in 2024.

The third aide, Vijay Choudhary — also a Bhumihar and a very sophisticated and articulate leader — is perceived to be the eyes and ears of Nitish, whom the Bihar CM trusts implicitly. Choudhary was in the Congress long ago, but joined the JD(U) strongman during his heydays and became his trusted lieutenant. He went on to become the Bihar Assembly Speaker and later the parliamentary affairs minister. He, too, is considered a shadow of Nitish.

Tempers assuaged

For the first couple of days, numerous protests erupted against the trio. But once Nitish met his MLAs and MPs and narrated the chain of events before giving his final nod for son Nishant Kumar’s entry into active politics, tempers were assuaged. The protest subsided once it became clear that Nishant would be the deputy CM.

It is yet to be seen how Nishant will shape up, given the fact that he has a spiritual bent of mind.

“Unlike Chirag Paswan and Tejashwi Yadav, Nishant has never shown eagerness to join politics, nor has he ever shown his ambition or leadership qualities. His sole qualification is that he is Nitish’s sole son. However, he could keep the warring JD(U) factions united, just as any Gandhi-family member is the unifying force for the Congress,” opined political scientist J N Pandey, who has covered Bihar for three decades.

(The author is a senior Patna-based journalist)