Nitish Kumar’s sudden exit from Bihar politics has left the Janata Dal (United) scrambling for a leadership transition, a situation that party leaders say was partly of his own making.
For more than a year, JD(U) leaders had been urging the veteran leader to allow his son Nishant Kumar to enter politics as concerns grew about his health and the party’s future leadership, party insiders said. But Nitish resisted the move, citing his long-held opposition to dynasty politics and gave the go-ahead only after effectively signalling his own retirement from state politics. Nishant Kumar, who joined the JD(U) on March 8, is a political novice and may take time to learn the ropes.
Sources said that as Nitish’s health began declining over the past year, pressure within the party to bring Nishant into politics grew stronger, with many leaders seeing him as the only figure around whom the party could rally.
“As his health began failing over the past year, there was desperation in the party to get Nishant in. That is the only way we felt the party would survive. But Nitish ji kept stalling,” a party leader said.
“The party has been pushing for Nishant to join politics for over a year. But Nitish Kumar was clear that as long as he was the CM and actively holding the reins of the party, his son would not join politics,” said a senior leader.
“Throughout his political career, Nitish ji has been against dynasty politics. He believed it would look rather poor if his son joined the party while he remained politically active in the state. Had Nishant joined earlier, Nitish ji’s exit itself would not appear so sudden,” the senior leader added.
JD(U) leaders admit that this reluctance has now created a leadership vacuum at the top of the party just as Nitish has stepped aside.
“He (Nishant) is not yet prepared. Ideally, he should have joined a couple of years ago, held some organisational post or been part of the legislative council, gained some experience. Then the transition would have been smooth,” another JD(U) leader said, adding, “Thankfully, we are not facing elections immediately and he has time to prepare himself. He is a talented and sharp young man.”
No big OBC leader
The JD(U), which emerged from the social justice movement, does not currently have a second-rung leader from the Other Backward Classes with a pan-state appeal. The party’s three key leaders — Sanjay Jha, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary — who are known to be close to Nitish Kumar, are all upper caste.
Sources said that after the Assembly elections last year, when Nitish led the alliance to a historic mandate, concerns about his health grew sharper and discussions around leadership transition intensified within the alliance.
The BJP was raising the issue of Nitish’s health in internal meetings even before the polls and was pushing the envelope on leadership transition. “But there was no way the polls could have been fought without Nitish Kumar as the face. So, they were contested on the slogan of ‘Pachchis se Tees, phir se Nitish (from 2025 to 2030, Nitish Kumar once again)’, even as we kept pushing a leadership change,” a BJP leader said.
Senior JD(U) leaders, however, rejected suggestions that Nitish stepped aside under pressure from the BJP, pointing out that his exit came barely three months after the alliance returned to power with a massive mandate.
“I would say he was persuaded, not pressured. Eventually, it was a considered decision taken by Nitish ji himself. The BJP knows well that Nitish ji cannot be made to do anything under pressure,” a JD(U) leader said.
“The Union government also has to get its Bills passed. It needs the support of its allies,” the leader added.
As a BJP CM takes over from Nitish, with Nishant likely to join the government as Deputy CM, JD(U) leaders hope he will gain governance experience over the next few years. At the same time, the party is planning extensive tours for him across Bihar to familiarise him with the JD(U)’s grassroots organisation and prepare him for a larger political role.
For the JD(U), the challenge now will be to quickly build a leadership structure around Nishant Kumar, a transition that party leaders say might have been less abrupt had his entry into politics not been delayed for so long.