Nitish Kumar and the Making of Bihar’s Next Leaders

Bihar differs from Odisha in politics, population, and temperament. Unlike Odisha, Bihar has faced decades of simmering sub-regionalism.

By MANISH ANAND

Patna, October 7, 2025 — First the hard truth. Bihar’s political fate is hardwired to Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of the state since 2005 with a few brief gaps in his tenure. Groomed in the laboratory of Mandal Politics, Kumar proved to be a master in the art of social engineering to send his peer Lalu Yadav and family into the darkness of power vacuum for two decades.

His critics now believe that Kumar is set to meet a fate that sent his Odisha counterpart Navin Patnaik into a political oblivion after a long stint in power. Both share similar political trajectory. They also converge in policy prescriptions in their respective statecraft.

But Bihar is not Odisha—politically, population profile, and temperamentally. Unlike Odisha, Bihar has sub-regionalism squirming and simmering for decades.

Bihar is also not Odisha in the sense that the apparent two-party bipolarity in the Odia state is missing in the Hindi cow-belt. Indeed, Bihar projects a two-front political landscape. But scratch a little and Bihar will reveal a hunger for experiments. Election strategist turned politician Prashant Kishor is hoping that Bihar’s thirst for experiment will bless his Jan Suraj party.

But unlike the Samata Party that Kumar had launched after branching off from Lalu Yadav’s large tent, Kishor lacks the ensemble of political icons who had catapulted the new party at the centre stage of Bihar politics. George Fernandes and several others had given Kumar a major launchpad. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a powerful ally.

Ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections in Odisha, the health conditions of Patnaik had been talk of the town in the state. Ahead of the November elections in Bihar, the health conditions of Kumar are also making rounds in Patna. But beyond Patna, the people seem to be paying least attention to health rumours of Kumar.

Within the ruling Janata Dal (United), Kumar hasn’t groomed anyone for succession. Visible faces of his party—Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh or Sanjay Jha—remain out of the realm of successor label of the incumbent Chief Minister.

The BJP in Bihar is also leaderless and rudderless. The BJP leaders admit that the party leadership in the state is not even a shadow of the likes of late Sushil Kumar Modi or late Kailashpati Mishra. They argue that the BJP’s Bihar leaders may even struggle to find a dozen people on their own coming at a venue to listen to them.

The leadership void as seen in the JD (U) and the BJP also extends to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress. Tejashwi Yadav is the political heir of Lalu Prasad Yadav, and thus by default a leader of the RJD. His appeal among the people is limited to the traditional vote base of the RJD. He has not added a new constituency to the catchment constituency of the RJD.

The Congress is currently in a phase of experiments. After trying to encroach into the Bhumihar vote base of the BJP, the Congress is attempting to snatch the social engineering of the JD (U). The Congress’ most visible face in Bihar is Kanhaiya Kumar, who is an import from the Left’s political tent.

(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are those of the author only)

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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