Nitish Kumar: know the interesting story of an ordinary clerk to becoming the CM of Bihar

In the assembly elections held in Bihar, the National Democratic Alliance won, after which there was a discussion that who will be made the CM of Bihar this time. But amidst all these speculations, BJP announced that no one can replace Nitish in Bihar, he will be in the position of CM. After which Nitish resigned as CM and then there was a joint meeting between the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance on Sunday, where Nitish Kumar was chosen as the leader of the grand alliance in Bihar. After this, on Monday, Nitish Kumar took his oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth consecutive time at 4:30 pm. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present at the meeting held at Nitish's residence, announced that Kumar has been elected as the NDA leader in Bihar.

BJP has emerged as the largest party in Bihar by winning 74 seats. On the other hand, Bihar has managed to win only 43 seats in the elections. But even then, all the big leaders including Prime Minister Modi decided to choose Nitish as the next Chief Minister of the state. This decision was taken before the commencement of elections.

Start of his political career

During the 1977 assembly elections. A 26-year-old boy from Harnaut seat in Nalanda district was contesting for the first time on a Janata Party ticket. In this election, the Janata Party won 214 seats and lost 97.  Harnaut was also among these 97 losing seats. That young leader who lost from this seat was one other than Nitish Kumar. The same, Nitish Kumar who later became Union Minister and then Chief Minister of Bihar.

Nitish, forgetting his past defeats, he stood again from the same seat in 1980, but this time on Janata Party (Secular) ticket. Kumar lost in this election too. 

Third time’s the charm : Became MLA in the third time

After losing two elections back-to-back, Nitish again stood from the seat in Harnaut in 1985. But, this time as a Lok Dal candidate. In this election, Nitish won with over 21 thousand votes. Nitish contested the assembly elections in 1995. However, he later resigned and stood in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.

Became CM for the first time at Atalji's behest

It is about the 2000 assembly elections. No single party or coalition got a majority. Nitish was then the Minister of Agriculture in the Atal government. After the election, Nitish took the oath of Bihar Chief Minister for the first time on March 3, 2000, with the support of the BJP. However,  he resigned within 7 days, due to lack of majority and said that he does not want to form government by manipulation. Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned as well in 1996 after being Prime Minister for 16 days.

Lalu’s Shadow

In 2004, Nitish Kumar split from the NDA and became close to Lalu Yadav. Lalu Prasad Yadav had become the Railway Minister, Nitish became Cole and Steel Minister. But Nitish had his eye on Bihar's chair. He went back to the NDA earlier than the 2005 meeting elections. The NDA were given a majority in the October 2005 elections and Nitish became the Chief Minister.

Nitish separated from NDA again in 2013

In2013, Nitish Kumar left the NDA, angry with the BJP declaring Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. In 2015, Nitish joined the Grand Alliance with JDU, RJD and Congress. The grand alliance bagged the majority. JDU won 71,  RJD 80, and Congress 27 seats. Nitish became CM and Tejashwi Yadav son of Lalu Yadav as Deputy CM.

Bidding adieu to the Grand Alliance 

In July 2017, after Tejashwi Yadav was accused of corruption, Nitish not only parted ways with the Grand Alliance, but also resigned as CM. On 26 July, Nitish separated from Mahagathbandhan and on 27 took the oath of Chief Minister for the 6th time with the support of the NDA. 

CM For the 7th term

The NDA won the state election last week with a thin majority and got 125 of Bihar's 243 assembly seats Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term yesterday evening. Fourteen other ministers were sworn in along with him. If Kumar completes his 7th term , he will become the longest-serving Chief Minister of Bihar, breaking the 18 year old record set by the state’s first minister CM S.K Singh.

by- Amodita Joshi