Nitish Kumar going 'national'? Bihar buzzes with new BJP CM chatter amid upcoming Rajya Sabha elections

Patna: In what could be perceived as a major tectonic shift in the political landscape in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to shift to Rajya Sabha, thereby paving the way for a new CM in the State, where he has been at the helm since 2005.

Though officially this has not been announced, but sources in the JD (U) aver that the Bihar Chief Minister is likely to file his nomination papers for the biennial election to the Rajya Sabha, slated for March 16, on March 5. Speculation is also rife that in case Nitish moves to the Upper House in Parliament, the BJP will have its own Chief Minister in the State with Nitish’s son Nishant Kumar being appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister.

The grapevine has been abuzz with the theory of Nitish moving to national politics ever since JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha returned from New Delhi on Wednesday and held parleys with Nitish. It is believed Union Minister and Nitish’s key aide Lallan Singh was also present during the meeting where it was decided in principle that Nitish may file his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha election on Thursday itself.

The move took everyone by surprise as March 4 was Holi and everyone was busy celebrating the festival of colours. But as the top ruling party leadership decided to change colours, the BJP, which has been playing second fiddle to Nitish since 2005, also got down to stake its claim for the CM’s post.

“Amid all the discussions over permutations and combinations, it was decided in principle that if Nitish moves to Rajya Sabha, the BJP, the single largest party in the 243-member House, will have its own Chief Minister in Bihar, a State where it has failed to have its CM so far,” said a senior NDA leader on the condition of anonymity. “Under such arrangement, it is quite likely that Nitish’s son Nishant, an engineering graduate, who has kept a low profile and stayed away from active politics, may be anointed as Deputy CM,” the source added.

Bihar will have five vacancies for the Rajya Sabha seats in April. For the biennial election to the Upper House, the NDA has 202 MLAs in the 243-member House, sufficient enough to win the four seats (as 41 MLAs' support is required to win one seat). For the fifth seat, it will have a surplus of 38 votes but will still be short of three members in case the contest takes place.