Nitish Kumar May Quit As Bihar Chief Minister, Son To Get Deputy Post: Sources

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to move to the Rajya Sabha and his son Nishant Kumar take over as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The next Chief Minister who will step into Kumar's shoes will be a BJP man, sources have said. The huge change -- that would spell the end of an era for Bihar - could take effect in the coming Rajya Sabha election, nomination for which is expected to be filed this week. 

A leader close to Nitish Kumar - who is from his caste and whose name is also being considered for Rajya Sabha -- said, "It is time to mourn. Everything had been decided in Delhi". Sources said he may resign as early as next week.

While Kumar's stance on the matter is not yet clear, the shift, if it happens, will place the BJP in the driving seat in Bihar - a spot it has been craving for a while. 

Several BJP leaders are in the running for the Chief Minister's post. Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai are being considered frontrunners.

The move to shift Kumar has been anticipated since before the 2025 assembly elections. But action was not taken in haste given Kumar's illustrious track record. 

Kumar, 75, has been Bihar's longest-serving Chief Minister, having taken oath a record 10 times. He has been in the hot seat since 2015, except for the brief period when Jitan Ram Manjhi - his close aide at the time -- was the Chief Minister. 

He has always spearheaded election campaigns in Bihar -- be it for the NDA or the Grand Alliance Mahagathbandhan, wherever he happened to be at the time. 

And he won the elections as one of the most popular Chief Ministers of the state with a solid support base that backed him despite all his political manoeuvrings and change of camp.

In 2025, when he was almost written off by political pundits, he made a triumphant comeback, buoyed by the support of the state's women, whose loyalty he won with his cycles for schoolgirls scheme and subsequently, the liquor ban in the state.

For the BJP, it was a daunting thought to replace him, even when electoral math had placed them in the top spot in Bihar and made Kumar's Janata Dal United a distant second. 

But even so, the state leaders have not been content with waiting in the wings. That, coupled with what the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has termed Kumar's age-related cognitive decline, has opened the path to a change of regime. 

Who Can Take Over From Nitish Kumar

As of now, while several names are doing the rounds, the BJP is known for springing surprises. 

Bihar currently has two Deputy Chief Ministers from the BJP -- the more influential of whom is Samrat Chaudhary, who also holds the Home Ministry. 

The name of Patna Digha MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia is also being discussed. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, who comes from the Yadav community and is very close to the Union Home Minister, is also making the rounds.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has repeatedly talked about giving Nityanand Rai a major responsibility from public platforms. 

Party insiders have said the Chief Minister of Bihar must be from a backward caste.