A file image of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his son Nishant Kumar.
| Photo Credit: ANI
On a day Bihar celebrated Holi, there was hectic political activity in Patna with speculation of Nitish Kumar resigning as Chief Minister and going to the Rajya Sabha doing rounds on Wednesday (March 4, 2026).
Candidatures for the Rajya Sabha election can be filed till March 5. On Wednesday, political circles were abuzz that Mr. Kumar, the Janata Dal (United) head, may make way for a Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the JD(U)’s coalition partner, with his son Nishant Kumar as the State’s Deputy Chief Minister.
Though the party remained tightlipped about the matter, top JD(U) leaders, including the party’s working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, and Union Minister and Munger MP Rajeev Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh), were huddled in a meeting at the official residence of Mr. Kumar on 1, Anne Marg (till the time of reporting).
Earlier in the day, senior JD(U) leaders and Ministers in Mr. Kumar’s Cabinet, Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Ashok Choudhary, are said to have spoken to the Chief Minister.
In the last Assembly elections, the ruling NDA won 202 seats with the JD(U) getting 85 and the BJP bagging 89 seats. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) won 19 seats and smaller parties such as Rashtriya Lok Morcha, led by Upendra Kushwaha, bagged four and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) won five seats. In the 243-member State Assembly, a candidate needs the support of 41 MLAs to secure a Rajya Sabha seat.
Last November, Mr. Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the tenth time. Barring nine months, when Jitan Ram Manjhi was the Chief Minister, Mr. Kumar has held the post since November 2005.
On Tuesday (March 3), senior JD(U) leader and State Minister Shrawan Kumar announced that Mr. Nishant will enter “active politics”. Some party leaders have been making a similar demand, and posters were put up at the party headquarters in Patna in support of the Chief Minister’s son.
Of the total 16 Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar, five seats are falling vacant on April 9. The terms of two JD(U) MPs Harivansh Narayan Singh, also Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and Ram Nath Thakur, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, are ending. NDA ally and Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Mr. Kushwaha’s tenure is ending along with those of two members from the Opposition bloc – Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Prem Chand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh.
In the 2025 Assembly polls, the RJD won 25 seats, the Congress six, the Communist Party of India (Marxists-Leninist) two, Communist Party of India (Marxist) one, AIMIM five, Bahujan Samaj Party one, and Indian Inclusive Party one.
The NDA needs the support of three more MLAs and the RJD that of six legislators to bag the fifth seat for which Mr. Kushwaha’s name is said to have been finalised by the NDA.
Published – March 04, 2026 07:28 pm IST
