From the Jan Sangh era to the present, the Bharatiya Janata Party has never had the opportunity to form a government under its own leadership. This is the first time the BJP is forming a government in Bihar with its own leader, Samrat Chaudhary, as Chief Minister. Since the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, the BJP had been trying to make a leader from its own party the Chief Minister. However, due to Nitish Kumar’s attempts to create obstacles, the BJP would often lose the opportunity, and despite the coalition’s relatively small number of MLAs, Nitish Kumar would often become the Chief Minister of the coalition. Even if the BJP had even a small number of MLAs, they would oust the BJP from the government to teach it a lesson. But this time, the BJP has trapped Nitish Kumar in a trap even worse than the previous one. The pressure placed on Nitish Kumar by the BJP is so severe that despite the RJD’s repeated promises to make him Chief Minister, he is not even considering aligning with the RJD.
Though with a heavy heart, Nitish Kumar resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar on April 14th. He had become emotional about this during his last cabinet meeting. However, this paved the way for the BJP to elect its own Chief Minister, and the BJP did not delay. First, Samrat Chaudhary was elected leader of the BJP legislative party, and then, by electing him leader of the NDA legislative party, he was prepared to be crowned Chief Minister of Bihar.
On April 15th, after being administered the oath of office and secrecy by Bihar Governor Syed Ata Hasnain, Samrat Chaudhary created the record of becoming the first Chief Minister of Bihar from a BJP leader. While one record was created, another was also broken. The record that was broken was that ever since the duo of PM Modi and Amit Shah became powerful in the Bharatiya Janata Party, their decisions, wherever they appointed Chief Ministers, were often shocking, surprising not only opposition political parties, but also constituents of the ruling coalition, and certainly surprising the public. However, this time, during the formation of the new cabinet in Bihar, Nitish Kumar prevented this from happening. Instead, he appointed his favorite, Samrat Chaudhary, from the BJP camp, as Chief Minister, surprising PM Modi and Nitish Kumar by barring any Sanghi or staunch BJP supporter from becoming Chief Minister of Bihar. The BJP was forced to appoint Samrat Chaudhary, who had previously served in the RJD and JDU before joining the BJP. He had not only served in the RJD and JDU but had also served as a minister in the government on behalf of these parties.
With the aim of making Samrat Chaudhary, a BJP member, the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar carried him around with him during the final leg of his Bihar Samruddhi Yatra, telling people that he would take over his unfinished work after him. He didn’t even resign from the Chief Ministership until the BJP agreed to appoint him Chief Minister.
To make Samrat Chaudhary his Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar may have suppressed the BJP’s ambition to appoint a Sanghi or a dedicated leader from the BJP’s beginnings, and may have worked hard or even hampered the BJP, but Samrat Chaudhary became Chief Minister, after all, from the BJP camp. And PM Modi and Amit Shah didn’t make Samrat Chaudhary the Chief Minister of Bihar in place of Nitish Kumar just for a change of face. They need to expand the BJP’s vote bank in Bihar.
While expanding the BJP’s vote bank is a small phrase, it will always haunt Samrat Chaudhary. Currently, Samrat Chaudhary is talking about reducing it as per Nitish Kumar’s instructions. But as directed by Nitish Kumar, he will not be able to expand the BJP’s vote bank in Bihar. And if he does, Nitish Kumar will take all the credit.
To expand the BJP’s vote bank in Bihar, Samrat Chaudhary will have to adhere to a strong Hindutva policy, even if it differs from Nitish Kumar’s secular policy. Furthermore, despite his claims of good governance, the crime rate in Bihar remains high. Although he initially began to adopt Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s bulldozer image, he later avoided it. It is believed that Nitish Kumar prevented him from doing so to prevent Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from gaining popularity here.
Samrat Chaudhary has stated that due to prohibition, Bihar is suffering a revenue loss of approximately 28,000 to 30,000 crore rupees every year, which is a significant amount in terms of the state’s total revenue.
Criticism of Nitish Kumar’s policy: He previously called prohibition a “failure” and said it had led to “home delivery” of liquor in Bihar.
Possibility of a flip-flop: When he became Deputy Chief Minister, he described prohibition as a “historic decision” by Nitish Kumar, but also warned criminals (liquor mafia) to refrain from breaking the law.