PATNA: With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigning from the state legislative council, talks regarding the next chief ministerial candidate have intensified.
Nitish is expected to resign as CM after the end of the inauspicious month 'Kharmas', around April 13. He will likely be taking oath as Rajya Sabha member on April 10.
JD (U) minister Vijay Chaudhary, considered close to Nitish, said the resignation "will happen at an appropriate time and in accordance with Constitutional provisions."
Regarding the next CM candidate, the JD (U) has put down a clear condition that the BJP should not attempt “Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan-style experiments” wherein the party elevated relatively lesser-known leaders to the CM post.
A few frontrunners to the CM seat include Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Union Minister Nityanand Rai, State Industries Minister Dilip Jaiswal, Cooperative Minister Pramod Kumar (Chandravanshi) and Digha MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia.
Meanwhile, Bihar Rural Development Minister and senior JD (U) leader Shrawan Kumar has suggested Nishant Kumar as Nitish's successor, saying that he has all ‘CM qualities’.
Sources said that Nishant may be made deputy CM in the new government.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had held discussions with his close aides like JD (U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh and Bihar minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and reportedly discussed the structure of the next government.
JD (U) reportedly wants to retain all departments that are presently held by it in the new government, sources added. JD(U) is to get two deputy CMs in the new cabinet, which will have maximum 36 ministers, including the chief minister in the 243-member Assembly.
Nitish has served as CM since November 2005. In 2025 assembly polls, Bihar NDA, led by Nitish, achieved a massive victory with 202 seats. BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, while JD(U) secured 85 seats. Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) got 19 seats, Jitan Ram Manjhi led HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM secured five and four seats, respectively. On the other hand, Opposition Mahagathbandhan suffered a major setback with bagging only 35 seats. Lalu Prasad’s RJD won 25 seats, Congress secured six seats while smaller parties and others, including AIMIM (5 seats), CPI-ML (2 seats), BSP (1 seat) and others.