Samrat Choudhary likely to become BJP's first CM in Bihar as Nitish Kumar to quit on April 14

Presently, Samrat Choudhary is holding the Home portfolio too, besides enjoying the trust of Nitish, who has been asked by the BJP leadership to suggest his successor.

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has convened his last Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, following which he will tender his resignation as CM to the Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain on April 14.

This will put an end to the one-month-long suspense over the possibility of the next Chief Minister, as the BJP has convened its Legislature Party meeting to elect its leader.

The BJP, which is the single largest party in the 243-member State Assembly with 89 MLAs, will have its Chief Minister in Bihar for the first time, although it had its Deputy CM for the last two decades, playing second fiddle to Nitish since 2005.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been appointed as the observer by the BJP top leadership to elect the BJP Legislature Party leader, will be present at the April 14 meeting which will be followed by the NDA Legislature Party meeting the same day.

Notably, five parties – the JD (U), BJP, LJP, HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLP – are part of the NDA Government in Bihar. The arrangement will remain the same except the fact that in place of JD (U), the BJP will have its own CM who will be formally elected on April 14 and sworn in on April 15.

Front-runner

The present Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who originally started his career in the RJD, switched over to the JD (U) before eventually becoming the Bihar BJP president and the Deputy Chief Minister, is most likely to be the new Chief Minister of Bihar.

Presently, he is holding the Home portfolio too, besides enjoying the trust of Nitish, who has been asked by the BJP leadership to suggest his successor.

“Nitish on Monday met his senior party leaders at the CM residence and discussed who all could be part of the new Government representing the JD (U). His son Nishant and senior minister Vijay Choudhary are the front-runners for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post,” said a senior ruling party member, privy to the talks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are likely to attend the swearing-in function of the new Government which will be headed by the BJP. “The Patna DM and the Senior SP (SSP) on Monday took stock of the preparedness for the swearing-in function which is most likely to take place at the Lok Bhavan,” informed a senior district official.