Bihar Assembly Election 2025: Will Nitish Kumar Be Able To Emerge Unscathed?

Patna: Bihar chief minister and JD (U) president Nitish Kumar has sprung a surprise whenever all and sundry start writing him off, most recently during the last Lok Sabha election as his party won 12 out of the total 16 seats it contested.

In the 2020 assembly election, JD (U) was reduced to the third position with 43 seats as he accepted the post of chief minister after his initial reluctance and subsequent BJP`s persuasion.

Nitish has even lost his first two assembly elections in 1977 and 1980 before emerging victorious in 1985 to become MLA for the first time. But these electoral setbacks could not stop a determined Nitish, who scripted the political history of Bihar along with other veteran politicians like Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.   

Proved His Detractors Wrong

Even during the last Lok Sabha polls, there was an ample hint that his political gravity was somewhere amiss as he briefly touched the feet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet during the campaign for the election in Nawada last year. Everybody started talking and making a conjectures about whether his age is catching up with him.

Nitish`s detractors even started writing him off, alleging that his political clout is on wane and JD (U) will once again fail to perform, but his party won 12 out of 16 seats it contested, registering a better strike rate than the BJP.

How durable is Nitish?

Nitish`s health has become a subject of intense speculation after a series of his unexpected and astonishing behavior at public places, including laughing and talking during the national anthem.

It created serious doubts whether NDA, particularly the BJP, will afford to contest the assembly election under his leadership. But scotching all such speculations, deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary asserted that Nitish would be chief minister once again after the election. It will be interesting to see whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his forthcoming visits to Bihar in May, clears all confusions and declares without any ambiguity that Nitish will be made chief minister after the election.

But there is a little doubt  BJP will even think of sidelining Nitish and going against his will when JD (U)`s 12 MPs are crucial for the stability of the Narendra Modi government.

Experts speak      

Former professor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Pushpendra Kumar Singh, said that Nitish`s political career would last as long as he is the CM.

“Nitish will not accept BJP`s any offer like a post of union minister, as he will never work under Modi and would also not be keen to hold the post of vice president or governor,” he remarked.

“Nitish`s political career will not last more than 2-3 years as questions are being raised over his physical and even mental condition, even if he becomes CM, as he will finally relinquish the post for a graceful exit," he added.

Political analyst Sanjay Kumar said that questions are regularly being raised over the mental condition of Nitish, and the opposition, including the RJD, has always been demanding his medical examination.

Around 56 percent of Bihar`s population is in the range of 18-25 years of age, and they may not like to have such a CM, and RJD leader Tejashwi could have the advantage of it in the election in such a situation, he added.