Bihar heads for first BJP-led govt as Nitish Kumar resigns; Samrat Choudhary to be CM

15/04/2026

PATNA, Apr 14: Bihar is on the course to having its first BJP-led government with JD(U) president Nitish Kumar resigning as chief minister on Tuesday and the ruling NDA backing Samrat Choudhary of the saffron party to take his place.
Choudhary, who was a deputy chief minister, was named the NDA legislative party leader in the presence of Kumar, now a Rajya Sabha member. The soon-to-be CM touched the feet of his ex-boss upon being garlanded by him.
"All NDA legislators have unanimously backed Samrat Choudhary as their leader. A new government will be formed tomorrow," Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar, a senior BJP leader himself, told reporters after a meeting, which was attended by all MLAs of the alliance partners.
After the meeting at the Central Hall of the Assembly building, Choudhary, along with BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is the party's in-charge for Bihar, met Governor Syed Ata Hasnain to stake a claim to form a new government.
According to a communication from the Lok Bhavan, the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 11 am on Wednesday.
NDA sources said that Choudhary would be heading a "small cabinet", which will see an expansion next month.
JD(U) sources said Nitish Kumar's son Nishant, who had joined the party a month ago, was not keen on the deputy chief minister's post and wanted to focus on strengthening the organisation.
Choudhary's name had been doing the rounds for the chief minister's post ever since Kumar made public his decision to enter the Rajya Sabha.
Prior to the NDA meeting on Tuesday, Choudhary had been named the leader of the BJP legislative party by the saffron party MLAs in the presence of party president Nitin Nabin, national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, national general secretary in charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde, and Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Chouhan had been named the "central observer" by the BJP parliamentary board for the transition.
Choudhary, who had cut his teeth in politics with the RJD and joined the BJP only in 2017, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for reposing their trust in him.
"I have been in politics for nearly three decades. But until joining the BJP, I could not appreciate the importance of ideological commitment. It shall be my endeavour to take forward Bihar as well as the BJP," the 57-year-old leader told BJP workers.
RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, teased Choudhary by reminding him that he was "a product of Lalu ji's school".
Lalu Prasad, the father of Tejashwi Yadav, is the RJD's founding president.
Yadav also alleged that Choudhary did "not have the approval of the people", referring to the fact that the NDA had fought and won the assembly polls with Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial face.
Kumar, who turned 75 last month and was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha MP a week ago, began his final day in the chief minister's office by paying tributes to Babasaheb Ambedkar, at a memorial of the Dalit icon close to the Patna High Court.
He then attended the last meeting of his cabinet, where colleagues gave him a tearful farewell.
A few hours later, Kumar went to the Lok Bhawan and submitted his resignation to the Governor, before announcing on his X handle that the new government in the state shall "always have my full cooperation and guidance".
At the Lok Bhawan, Kumar was accompanied by Choudhary and other close aides such as Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh "Lalan", a former JD(U) chief, and Sanjay Kumar Jha, the party's current working president.
In his lengthy, emotional post on social media, Kumar, the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, spoke of the efforts he had made since first assuming power on November 24, 2005.
The septuagenarian, who has been sworn in as Bihar chief minister for a record 10 times, thanks to his numerous flip-flops, refrained from having a word with the posse of journalists gathered on the street separating the CM's residence and the Lok Bhavan.
In the meantime, BJP workers erupted in jubilation as the prospects of "their own government" came closer. At the BJP legislative party meeting, Choudhary's name was proposed by Vijay Kumar Sinha, another deputy chief minister in the outgoing government.
Several BJP MPs from Bihar, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh and Nityanand Rai, besides Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Radha Mohan Singh, all former central ministers, had turned up at the party office, and later at the central hall, to witness the occasion that marked the moment of glory for their party.

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