After two decades of ruling Bihar like a permanent fixture, Nitish Kumar has suddenly “remembered” a long-cherished dream — to sit in the Rajya Sabha. The timing, unsurprisingly, is immaculate.
Putting speculation to rest, the JD(U) chief announced on X that he intends to resign as Chief Minister and move to the Rajya Sabha, completing what he calls his political “quartet” — having already been an MP, MLA and MLC. According to him, this is merely the fulfilment of a personal parliamentary ambition.
In a carefully worded farewell-without-saying-farewell message, Kumar thanked the people of Bihar for trusting him for over two decades and claimed the state is “setting new standards in development.” He assured supporters that his “relationship” with them will continue — even if his chair in Patna doesn’t.
But the political arithmetic tells another story.
With Kumar shifting to the Upper House, the Chief Minister’s seat will fall vacant just months after the NDA swept the Bihar Assembly elections with a thumping 202 out of 243 seats. Notably, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, nudging ahead of JD(U)’s 85 — a detail that suddenly makes the CM chair look negotiable.
The Rajya Sabha election process is already underway. Notifications were issued on February 26, nominations close today (March 5), scrutiny is on March 6, and withdrawals can happen till March 9. Kumar will file his nomination today, alongside BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin.
Five Rajya Sabha seats are up for grabs in Bihar. JD(U) holds two, BJP is expected to contest two — and with the numbers firmly in the NDA’s pocket, the outcome is hardly suspenseful.
Inside political circles, however, whispers are louder than official statements. Some leaders claim this Rajya Sabha “desire” may not be entirely Kumar’s own idea but a polite nudge from the BJP, which now holds greater legislative muscle in Bihar. One senior BJP leader even told Vibes of India that this could mark “the beginning of the end” of Nitish Kumar’s long political run — a career already slowed by age and declining health.
Predictably, party leaders are dismissing the chatter.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh brushed it aside as “Holi jokes,” insisting Nitish Kumar remains the Chief Minister. Chirag Paswan echoed the line, claiming there is “no discussion” about changing leadership and praising the NDA’s “double-engine government.”
Still, political Delhi rarely jokes without intent.
If Kumar does move to the Rajya Sabha, the race for Bihar’s top chair will open instantly. Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is widely seen as the frontrunner, while Union Minister Nityanand Rai’s name is also circulating. While Nitish Kumar is set move to Rajya Sabha, his son Nishant Kumar, who has long stayed away from the limelight, is expected to likely make his political debut and might be the next probable candidate for Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister’s post.
Frontrunners for the next Bihar Chief Minister candidates also include deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. In addition to this, Bihar minister Dilip Jaiswal and Digha BJP MLA Sanjiv Chaurasia are also speculated to be in the race for the chief ministerial face.
And then there is the curious appearance of dynasty.
Reports suggest Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar — long kept carefully away from politics — may finally enter the arena and even land a cabinet role. That would be an interesting twist for a leader who spent years preaching against dynastic politics. For years, Nitish Kumar proudly held up his son as proof that he was different from the dynasty-driven politics he often criticised. Nishant Kumar, his only son, lived a quiet and largely private life, far from the noise of election rallies and party offices. An engineering graduate reportedly from Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, Nishant never pursued a conventional career and stayed away from public office, reinforcing his father’s claim that politics in the family would stop with him.
That moral high ground, however, now appears slightly negotiable.
In recent months Nishant has begun surfacing at political gatherings and public programmes, triggering speculation that he may finally be eased into the political arena through the Janata Dal (United). If that happens — possibly even through a cabinet berth or a senior organisational role — it would mark a quiet but unmistakable pivot for a leader who spent years lecturing others about dynastic politics.
In Bihar’s politics, it seems, even principles eventually develop succession plans.
It would also test the BJP’s own sermons against political inheritance — especially if the party quietly accommodates the same practice it routinely attacks in others.
In Bihar’s theatre of power, ideals often retire faster than chief ministers.
