Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to shift to Rajya Sabha and vacate his position, NDTV reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
According to reports, it will be a BJP candidate that will become the next CM, while Kumar's son Nishant Kumar will take over as the Deputy CM of the state.
This would be the first time BJP will have its own chief minister in Bihar, despite being in power in coalition for most of the last two decades.
Samrat Chaudhary and Nityanand Rai are being viewed as the top BJP candidates to replace Nitish as the CM.
Kumar's shift, while a surprise to some, has been anticipated since before the 2025 assembly elections. However, execution was delayed.
The 75-year-old JD(U) leader has an impressive state assembly election history, having taken oath as the Bihar CM for a record 10 times.
The only time he did not occupy the hot seat since 2015, was during a brief period when Jitan Ram Manjhi was the CM.
Kumar has always been put in the forefront of campaigns — be it for the NDA or the Grand Alliance Mahagathbandhan.
Nitish's 'Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana', which led to the transfer of Rs 10,000 to the accounts of over one crore women in the state, was seen by analysts as a crucial gamechanger ahead of the polls.
Despite his stellar record, opposition parties have raised questions regarding the CM's health time and again.
NDA's Bihar Sweep
In November of 2025, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance exceeded pollster expectations and bagged 200 of the 243 seats in Bihar state assembly elections.
While the NDA win was on the cards, none of the pre or post-election surveys projected the coalition to win at such a grand scale.
Nitish's pro-incumbency wave was powered by women voters, several exit polls suggested. The Rs 10,000 sop primarily boosted his appeal among Bihar's Jeevika Didis, who are often seen as the core voter support base of the Janata Dal (United).
ALSO READ: Behind NDA Tsunami — The Rs 10,000 Sop For Women Hailed As 'Economic Gamechanger'
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