'Nitish quit on his own, BJP did not push him out': Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary

Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Friday rejected suggestions that the BJP had pushed Nitish Kumar out of the top post, asserting that the JD(U) president stepped down voluntarily and continues to be the NDA’s “undisputed leader” in the state.

Speaking at a media event in Patna, Choudhary said the BJP had not asked Kumar to relinquish the chief minister’s chair. Kumar stepped down in April this year, bringing an end to his latest stint at the helm of Bihar before moving to the Rajya Sabha.

‘We didn’t ask him’

“Nitish Kumar stepped down of his own accord. We had not asked him to do so,” Choudhary said.

He claimed Kumar had recalled how former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee backed him for the chief minister’s post in 2000 despite the BJP having more MLAs than Kumar’s then party, the Samata Party, and wanted to “reciprocate the gesture”.

The reference was to the fractured verdict in the 2000 Bihar Assembly election, following which Kumar was sworn in as chief minister but resigned within a week after the NDA failed to muster the numbers required to prove its majority.

Choudhary repeatedly emphasised Kumar’s continuing political importance, describing him as the NDA’s undisputed leader in Bihar. In another interaction on Friday, he said Kumar had made a major contribution to the state and that he would listen to any advice offered by the former chief minister.

Invokes Lalu’s rise

The Chief Minister also turned to the political history of RJD president Lalu Prasad, claiming that the BJP had played a role in his rise to the chief minister’s office in 1990.

“Lalu ji became the Chief Minister of Bihar thanks to the benediction of the BJP,” Choudhary said, while alleging that Prasad had deprived Dalit leader Ram Sundar Das of what he described as his “rightful claim” to the post.

Prasad was then a Janata Dal leader and became chief minister in 1990 after winning the contest for the legislature party leadership. The Janata Dal government subsequently received outside support from the BJP.

Das, himself a former chief minister, was also in contention for the leadership and was considered close to then prime minister V P Singh. Prasad ultimately defeated him in the legislature party contest.

Hits back at Tejashwi

Choudhary also responded to RJD working president and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav’s criticism describing him as a “selected, and not elected” chief minister.

Without naming Yadav, Choudhary invoked former chief minister Rabri Devi, saying she had not been elected by the people when she first assumed the chief minister’s office in 1997.

“He should remember that his mother too was not elected by the people when she first became the CM. And his party had not announced beforehand that it would back him for the Deputy CM’s post,” Choudhary said.

The exchange reflects the political debate surrounding Choudhary’s elevation after Kumar’s resignation. Choudhary became Bihar’s first BJP chief minister in April after being chosen as the NDA legislature party leader.

Dodges 2030 question

Asked whether he was confident of continuing as chief minister until the next Assembly election in 2030, Choudhary declined to make such a prediction and said the decision rested with his party.

“I am a small leader who owes his standing to the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, the NDA’s undisputed leader in Bihar,” he said.

Choudhary pointed to his rapid rise within the BJP, noting that the party had made him its state president, appointed him deputy chief minister twice and later entrusted him with the Home portfolio before his elevation as chief minister.

At the same event, he said it was for the party to determine his future in the chief minister’s chair.

“I am focused on doing my job,” Choudhary said.

Law and order priority

The Chief Minister identified law and order, education and improving revenue through industrialisation among the principal priorities of his government.

He also said the state administration was dealing effectively with the ongoing floods with assistance from the Centre, while working on longer-term measures, including river inter-linking, to reduce Bihar’s recurring vulnerability to floods.

Choudhary’s remarks on Kumar came on a politically significant day for the JD(U), with the former chief minister and his son Nishant Kumar appearing together at a party function for the first time amid speculation about the organisation’s future leadership. JD(U) leaders, however, played down suggestions of an immediate leadership change.