Nitish Kumar moves to Rajya Sabha: How he transformed Bihar’s political landscape

In 2025, JD-U won 85 seats at a strike rate of 85% despite Nitish Kumar’s muted campaign amid concerns over his health

Nitish Kumar on Thursday announced that he will be resigning as chief minister and moving to the Rajya Sabha after two decades of leading the state government.

Nitish Kumar has been a member of the Lok Sabha, Bihar Legislative Assembly and Bihar Legislative Council. (HT photo)

“From the very beginning of my parliamentary journey, there has been a desire in my heart to become a member of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature as well as both Houses of Parliament. In keeping with this aspiration, I seek to become a member of the Rajya Sabha in the elections being held this time”, Kumar posted on his official X account.

Kumar has been a member of the Lok Sabha, Bihar Legislative Assembly and Bihar Legislative Council.

The development comes the same day when Union home minister Amit Shah will be visiting Patna and likely to induct of his son Nishant Kumar into the Janata Dal United (JD-U) fold.

Smart leader

In the 2020 Bihar assembly pools, JD(U)’s tally in the assembly shrunk to 43, lowest since 2005 due to the emergence of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) which continued to be part of the larger National Democratic Alliance (NDA) grouping at the Centre.

In 2025, JD-U won 85 seats at a strike rate of 85% despite Kumar’s muted campaign amid concerns over his health.

The announcement of women-centric welfare schemes, ₹10,000 cash handout to 14.1 million women, resonated with people while he remained a vital figure for NDA in the run up to the 2025 assembly polls.

On ground, there was a palpable undercurrent of support for Bihar’s ‘Sushashan Babu’.

Development man

Experts attribute Kumar’s success to his state government’s consistent plans.

“If women emerged as a big constituency favouring him despite the caste divide, it was a result of his government’s consistent plans and policies since 2005,” says analyst Prof. NK Choudhary, who retired as head of economics department from Patna University.

“If the cycle scheme gave wings to girls and created a craving for education despite questions over the quality of schools, the reservation of 50% in panchayati raj and urban local bodies empowered women by involving them in grassroots governance,” he added. Kumar also launched the Jeevika self-help group for rural women to become economically self-reliant.

Soon after taking over as chief minister in 2005, Kumar also set out to upgrade the state’s poor infrastructure.

In 2005, his first stint as Bihar’s chief minister, Nitish Kumar continued to work towards improving the state’s infrastructure.

DM Diwakar, the former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna said Nitish’s focus on improving roads, power, law and order saw him voted back to power in 2010.

Rise of Nitish

Born in the small town of Bakhtiyarpur in 1951 in a middle-class family, Kumar was influenced by socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and took the plunge into politics even though he was an engineering graduate.

He entered Bihar assembly in 1985 and backed Lalu Prasad as leader of opposition in 1989. A year later, he supported Lalu Prasad’s bid for CM . In 1994, the two fell out and in 1996, he aligned with the BJP. He was inducted as railway minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1998.

On March 3, 2000, he became chief minister of Bihar for the first time when he was already a four-time MP, but his term lasted only seven days, as he failed to prove his majority. He did not have the seven votes required to pass the trust vote on the floor of the assembly.

He left the NDA fold twice, for four years between 2013 and 2017, and for two years between 2022 and 2024; although he remained chief minister.

“Allies accepted his policies as theirs, as they were left with no option in his company. Nitish never had to do any alterations, nor did he allow his allies to run their agenda,” said analyst Prof. Vijay Kumar of BBA Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.