Bihar likely to get BJP CM as Nitish Kumar files nomination for Rajya Sabha

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP's state unit president Nitin Nabin on Thursday filed their nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The nominations were filed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the office of the Assembly Secretary Khyati Singh. Earlier in the day, Kumar announced his decision to enter the Rajya Sabha, bringing the curtain down on his tenure as the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state.

For Nabin, who was appointed BJP's Bihar president earlier this year, this will mark his first stint in Parliament. He previously served as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council. Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha were also present during the filing of the nominations.

With the JDU supremo Nitish Kumar's entry into national politics, the BJP is now poised to claim the Chief Minister's post, a position it has long been eyeing. Bihar remains the only state in the Hindi heartland where the saffron party does not have its own CM, despite emerging as the single largest party with 89 seats in the Assembly elections.

Among the names being discussed for the post is Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, whom Union Home Minister Amit Shah- widely seen as the BJP's principal strategist- had vowed to make "a big man" during the Assembly poll campaign.

Meanwhile, opposition leader in the Bihar assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said that Nitish Kumar's decision to enter the Rajya Sabha was a "betrayal" of the people's mandate.

Yadav alleged the BJP has always been opposed to Dalits and OBCs, and with Kumar leaving the CM's post, it will seek to implement its agenda in the socialist stronghold. "The BJP has done a Maharashtra in Bihar," he said.

"We have been saying from the very beginning that the BJP will not let Nitish Kumar remain the chief minister after the elections. This is exactly what has happened. This development is against the mandate of the people and amounts to a betrayal of it," he said.

Alleging that the BJP had "hijacked" Kumar, Yadav said that was the reason the veteran leader was now moving to the Rajya Sabha. "BJP is against OBCs and Dalits. They never want a leader from these communities to occupy the top post. They want a chief minister who will function like a rubber stamp for the top BJP leadership," he said.