NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar on Wednesday took oath as the Bihar chief minister for a record 8th time.
The 71-year-old JD(U) leader, who started out as an engineer in the Bihar Electricity Board, joined politics under the aegis of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia. In his five-decade-long political innings, Nitish has seen it all — from torturous splits and mergers to string of electoral successes.
Here’s a 10-point guide to Nitish’s political journey …
The 71-year-old JD(U) leader, who started out as an engineer in the Bihar Electricity Board, joined politics under the aegis of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia. In his five-decade-long political innings, Nitish has seen it all — from torturous splits and mergers to string of electoral successes.
Here’s a 10-point guide to Nitish’s political journey …
- Nitish Kumar was born on March 1, 1951 in Bakhtiyarpur to an Ayurvedic practitioner-cum-freedom fighter father. He studied electrical engineering from Bihar Engineering College and got involved in student politics during these days.
- In 1974, Kumar’s budding political career got a major leg-up when he got associated with the ‘JP movement’. That’s when he met Lalu Prasad and Sushil Kumar Modi.
- Nitish’s first electoral success came in the 1985 assembly elections when he was elected to the Bihar assembly from Harnaut. In 1977, he had contested from the same seat on a Janata Party ticket but suffered defeat.
- Shortly thereafter, the Bihar chief minister turned his eye to Delhi and got elected to Lok Sabha from the now abolished seat of Barh.
- In 1994, Nitish formed Samata Party after breaking away from Janata Dal with George Fernandes. After 6 long years, he became the CM of Bihar for the first time in 2000. Albiet, the stint lasted just 7 days.
- Kumar took oath as the
Bihar CM for the second time in 2005. This time,BJP was his alliance partner. He had already merged his party with Sharad Yadav’s outfit in 2003 to form the Janata Dal (U), of which he is a de facto chief today. - In 2010, Nitish was re-elected as Bihar CM after contesting with ally BJP. However, in 2013, he snapped ties with BJP when it becomes clear that
Narendra Modi would be declared as BJP’s PM candidate. - For the 2015 elections, Nitish formed a Grand Alliance with Lalu’s RJD, the Congress and other regional outfits. The alliance won the elections, handing Nitish another term as CM. But the tie-up lasted just 2 years as Nitish dumped the allies in 2017.
- Nitish again formed a new government with BJP and took oath as CM for the sixth time. In 2020, he contested with BJP as his ally and retained the chief ministerial seat, even though JD(U) won fewer seats than the saffron party.
- In 2022, Nitish again severed ties with BJP and returned to the Grand Alliance fold. He resigned as CM and formed a new government with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav returning as his deputy.