Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, resigned on Monday as a member of the Legislative Council or MLC, say sources.
The 10-time Chief Minister, whose career critics say is a masterclass in coalition manoeuvring, secured a Rajya Sabha seat through an election held on March 16 and the 14-day period during which he has to quit membership of one of the legislatures ends today.
"It is stipulated in the Constitution that you should resign within 14 days. Things will happen accordingly," Sanjay Kumar Jha, the national working president of the JD(U), had told reporters last week.
Jha, however, had parried queries on when the 75-year-old JD(U) supremo was expected to step down as Chief Minister.
Nitish Kumar, Bihar's longest-serving Chief Minister, is likely to take the oath as a Rajya Sabha member on April 9.
On March 5, Kumar expressed his desire to be a member of both houses of the Bihar Legislature as well as the Houses of Parliament. He asserted his commitment to building a "developed Bihar" and extended his "cooperation and guidance" to the new government.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) welcomed Kumar's decision to return to the parliamentary democracy.
Beginning his journey as an MLA in 1985 and later serving as a Union Minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he first ascended to the Bihar Chief Minister's office in 2005. Since 2013, however, his tenure has been defined by a "revolving door" of alliances, alternating between the BJP and the Mahagathbandhan (RJD and Congress) in 2013, 2017, 2022, and 2024.
Despite these frequent realignments, his political survival remains unparalleled. Most recently, he secured a fifth electoral landslide in 2025, taking the oath as Chief Minister for a record-breaking tenth time.
Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, leader of the BJP legislature party, is seen as a front-runner to replace Nitish Kumar as the state's top boss.
Nitish Kumar has been dropping hints.
During his Samriddhi Yatra earlier this month, Kumar placed his hands on his Deputy's shoulder and urged people to show support for him.
Samrat Choudhary belongs to the Koeri, or Kushwaha caste, a prominent other backward class (OBC) community in the state.
