Nitish Kumar, head of the Janata Dal (United), was sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the ninth time on August 10, 2022. This is a record.
He came back to power 18 months after leaving the NDA, which was run by the BJP. This is his fifth switch since 2015. The BJP also had six ministers and two deputy chief ministers take the oath.
nitish kumar
Explaining the latest political flop
Nitish said the move was “good for Bihar,” while the BJP said it was needed “for the growth of the state.” But RJD, a former alliance partner, said that JD(U) would fail as a party after the breakup, even though they had agreed to work together before because their ideas were similar.
The Repeated Political Cheat
Nitish has switched political parties many times since 2005 in order to stay CM until 2014–15. He has worked with the BJP three times (2005–13, 2017–22, and after 2022) and the RJD twice (2015–17, 2022), which shows an uncanny ability to switch between political parties.
Seven things that make Nitish Kumar
First BJP Alliance in 1996
Nitish was one of the new socialist leaders in Bihar during the JP movement in 1974. He saw that joining the BJP was good for his party, the Samata Party. He did this first in 1996 to become an MP and then again in 2000 for seven days as CM.
quit over the train tragedy in 1999
Nitish quit as Railway Minister in 1999, after the Gaisal train accident killed 285 people, because he felt morally responsible. Reforms to the railways were praised during his time in office.
Left the NDA over Modi’s choice
Nitish didn’t support Narendra Modi as PM from the NDA before the 2014 elections because he didn’t have a “secular image.” Many people were surprised by this because he had been close to BJP before.
Given the mess in 2014, quit as CM
Nitish quit as CM because of the bad show when JD(U) dropped from 20 to just 2 LS seats in 2014. This gave Bihar its first CM who wasn’t Nitish for a few months: Jitan Manjhi.
Son doesn’t get involved in politics.
Unlike dynasts, Nitish’s son Nishant stays out of politics, even though he is wealthier. Nitish had assets worth ₹75 lakhs in 2021, while Nishant had assets worth ₹3.6 crores.
Not Required For All Parties
Even though Nitish isn’t reliable, all parties accept him because he has a clean image that the RJD doesn’t have and there isn’t a Bihar BJP CM face, which makes him even more necessary.
Number of Terms vs. Length of Time
Nitish has been CM for 17 years, spread out over 9 terms. Pawan Chamling (24 years) and Naveen Patnaik (23 years) have been CM for shorter amounts of time.
