After being elected as a Rajya Sabha member, when the question of resigning from the Legislative Council arose, he waited until the last minute and only then resigned. He subsequently relinquished his membership to the Rajya Sabha after the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha had prepared the groundwork for the same. However, he has still not resigned from the post of Chief Minister.
These days, a major issue is being discussed in Bihar politics regarding the BJP and the JDU. Nitish Kumar also took his Rajya Sabha membership after the end of Kharmas, based on the lunar calendar. And the BJP is waiting until the end of Kharmas, based on the solar calendar, which ends on April 14th, to announce the Chief Minister of Bihar from its camp.
In fact, this Kharmas issue has arisen because the JDU and the BJP are currently enemies of each other. Neither is the JDU allowing the BJP to freely choose its Chief Minister for Bihar, nor is it willing to give the JDU a significant role in the upcoming cabinet. And this isn’t going to happen easily. Therefore, under the pretext of Kharmas, both the BJP and the JDU are buying time and pressuring each other.
As part of the BJP’s ongoing efforts to select the next Chief Minister of Bihar and strengthen the JDU’s position in the cabinet, the JDU is now attacking the BJP by posting a poster of Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, calling him the next Chief Minister of Bihar and Nitish Kumar’s true successor. Nishant Kumar’s post reads, “Neither do we want bulldozers nor riots again in Bihar.” Furthermore, it adds, “O Loknath, now we need your shadow, young public servant Nishant Kumar.” It concludes, “Nitish ji’s incomplete mission will be completed by Nishant Kumar.”
The BJP is also secretly apprehensive of Nitish Kumar’s new approach. The BJP is well aware that Nitish Kumar can make a big move at any time. And if Nitish Kumar makes a big move, the BJP’s hopes of forming a party-led government in Bihar for the first time will be dashed. Nitish Kumar will play the victim card, defame the BJP, and erode its vote bank. Therefore, the BJP is treading cautiously. The BJP is repeatedly sending Samrat Chaudhary to Nitish Kumar, attempting to persuade him not to make any big moves this time.
In this ongoing power struggle between the BJP and the JDU, it now appears that the two parties have at least settled on a formula, based on which the face of Bihar’s next Chief Minister and the cabinet will be decided. That’s why the BJP is sending Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has four previous stints as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, to Bihar to seek Nitish Kumar’s approval from the BJP camp, to build consensus on the Chief Ministerial candidate, so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t face a difficult situation when he arrives in Bihar to make the announcement.
While neither the BJP nor the JDU is disclosing this information, the way several previously discussed names have suddenly dropped out, leaving only Samrat Chaudhary remaining in the discussion indicates that the formula agreed upon between the BJP and JDU for selecting the Chief Minister of Bihar from within the BJP camp will neither give the BJP free rein to act arbitrarily nor completely isolate the JDU. This means that the next Chief Minister of Bihar will be someone from both the JDU and BJP backgrounds.
This formula also includes Samrat Chaudhary, the current frontrunner for the position of Chief Minister of Bihar, who was a minister from the JDU camp in 2014 and is currently the Deputy Chief Minister from the BJP camp in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. Another candidate who fits this formula is Shreyasi Singh, who is the IT and Sports Minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet from the BJP camp. While Shreyasi Singh may be associated solely with the BJP, her father, Digvijay Singh, was associated with Nitish Kumar during the formation of the Samata Party. Later, when the Janata Dal (United) was formed, he was also a founding member of the JDU, serving as a Member of Parliament and a Minister of State at the Centre. Consequently, Shreyasi Singh’s connections to both the BJP and the JDU are essential to this new formula.
Samrat Chaudhary may be leading the race for the post of Chief Minister of Bihar, but considering the surprising manner in which the duo of PM Modi and Amit Shah announce the Chief Minister of any state from their party, Samrat Chaudhary’s progress as Chief Minister of Bihar may be halted. It is true that by making Samrat Chaudhary the Chief Minister, the BJP could win over the Koeri Kurmi camp. However, the Koeri community, from which Samrat Chaudhary belongs, constitutes only two to three percent of the population in Bihar. Furthermore, the BJP also has leaders like Upendra Kushwaha to influence this group.
Speaking of Shreyasi Singh as the next Chief Minister of Bihar, she belongs to the upper caste community, which constitutes 15% of the population in Bihar. But an even more significant advantage for the BJP in both Bihar and central politics is her being young, a woman, and an athlete. In various states, including Bihar, and the entire country, women constitute nearly half the population. If she were to be presented as an athlete and a role model for whom youth are particularly attracted, she would represent approximately 65%. In this regard, Shreyasi Singh would be a Chief Minister who would offer far greater political benefits to the BJP than Samrat Chaudhary.
Then, at the Centre, the BJP is currently introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill, known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, for amendment in the House on April 16th. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dreams of securing the votes of the indigenous women population by passing this Act, winning the 2029 general elections, becoming Prime Minister for the fourth consecutive term, and forming a government by leading the BJP to victory in the elections in various states, including Uttar Pradesh, scheduled to be held during this period. In this regard, Shreyasi Singh’s appointment as Chief Minister of Bihar will play a significant role.
Today, during a program, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that he will make every effort to enhance women’s dignity, thus emphasizing that the new face the BJP is planning to appoint as Chief Minister of Bihar on April 15th will be a woman, and this face could be Shreyasi Singh.