“Change of Guard In Bihar”, Open the magazine, March 06, 2026

“It was an open secret that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is not the man he once was. Advancing age and bouts of absent-mindedness reduced his public appearances and governing a complex state weighed heavily on him. Kumar’s decision to opt for a Rajya Sabha berth marks the end of an era. Except for short breaks and two failed alliances with RJD, the JD(U) boss has been Bihar chief minister since 2005. His ascent was rapid after initially playing second fiddle to RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Lalu and Nitish are very different politicians despite being cut from the Mandal cloth. It was more than 11 years after Kumar chose his own path, and the two men ran the race for political supremacy for a long time. For most of the time, the Kurmi from Nalanda lagged the Yadav but his decision to team up with BJP stitched a formidable alliance between forward castes and a big section of non-Yadav backwards.

Now, the baton will pass to BJP in keeping with the respective legislative strengths of the two parties. The names of BJP leaders Nityanand Rai, a Yadav, and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, a Kushwaha, are doing the rounds while Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, is set to be inducted in the Bihar government. Since Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh has not been re-nominated, there will be a new JD(U) nominee. The changeover was in the works for a while with a senior JD(U) leader working as a bridge with BJP to bring about a much-needed change of guard…..”

Read full article at openthemagazine.com