Bihar’s Battle of Sons: Nitish Kumar's Son Set to Churn the Poll Pot

Nishant Kumar’s political plunge may blunt the BJP's bid to play 'Big Brother' in Bihar, writes Manish Anand.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had all along been an anti-dynast. He idolises former chief minister Karpoori Thakur, the original architect of the state's caste politics which propelled the other backward castes (OBCs) to the electoral centre stage. Thakur kept his family members at arm’s length from politics.

But Nitish Kumar is set for what looks like a course correction to his life-long politics.

His close aides assert that Nitish had been unwilling to bring his son Nishant Kumar into politics. But, as they say that politics is an art of reconciling contradictions, the incumbent Chief Minister is set to play his trump card in the October Assembly elections with his son’s political plunge.

Nitish's Political Heir

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) under the leadership of Bihar's former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav is on an offensive. His barbs of ‘achet mukhyamantri' (semi-conscious chief minister) have put the ruling Janata Dal (United) on the defensive. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – is also strongly defending Nitish.  

The Chief Minister concluded his ‘Pragati Yatra’ a few weeks ago. Bihar’s political observers noted that Nitish got a lukewarm reception at several places. Yet, he announced almost Rs 50,000 crore worth of projects to be undertaken if he becomes the chief minister again.

The JD(U) is in dire need of a new face who can infuse energy into the party workers and appeal to the core constituency of the party. The non-Yadav OBCs, extremely backward castes (EBCs), and Mahadalit (scheduled castes barring Paswan) constitute the core vote base of the JD(U). 

The relentless questioning of the health conditions of Nitish by the RJD threaten to sober the morale of the core constituency of the JD(U). Equally worrisome for party leaders is the fact that its core vote base is facing RJD outreach. 

It is being hoped that Nishant’s political plunge, expected in April, will lift the morale of JD(U) workers and the party’s voter base. The Kurmi-Koeri, the principal support base of Nitish, may find satisfaction that they have a political heir from them.

Bureaucrats Seek Extension of Status Quo

Nitish Kumar has been running his administration with his trusted team of bureaucrats. They seek continuity, for changes in leadership may jeopardise their existing positions. It’s well known that the Bihar Chief Minister groomed some IAS officials who shared his caste fraternity.

His first caste bureaucrat pick was RCP Singh, a fellow Kurmi IAS official. Singh went on to become the Rajya Sabha MP and wielded enormous political clout. Nitish, after Singh parted ways with him, continues to maintain his coterie of officials who constitute his core administrative strength.

The word on the grapevine is that these bureaucrats were the ones to convince Kumar to bring his son into politics.

He is well-known to be highly suspicious of even senior leaders from his party. But he lends his ears to the counsel of his bureaucrat aides. It is being said that Nishant is undergoing training in politics from the trusted bureaucrat lieutenants. 

Checkmating BJP with Nishant Kumar

A loss of 28 Assembly seats in 2020 sunk the JD(U) tally to just 43 seats. The BJP in contrast gained 21 seats to win 74 Assembly constituencies. Numerically, the BJP became a 'Big Brother' in Bihar NDA in 2020. 

Chirag Paswan’s Lok Jan Shakti Party accounted majorly for the losses of JD(U) candidates in the 2020 state polls. Nitish Kumar’s party has not forgotten the curious trend of BJP ticket hopefuls contesting on the symbol of Paswan’s outfit after not bagging nominations from the saffron party.

Word about the Maharashtra script of the BJP – where the party relegated Mahayuti Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to the role of Devendra Fadnavis' deputy after the last year’s Assembly elections – is also buzzing in the political corridors of Bihar.

With Nitish sending the signal that Nishant will be his political heir, the JD(U) will hope to recover the grounds lost in 2020. The reclusive engineer son of the Bihar Chief Minister is expected to hog the media limelight to quickly ride the political ladder. A strong JD(U) will, thus, be a net positive for the NDA in Bihar while keeping an assertive BJP in the check.

Rationalising Nishant Kumar’s Political Plunge

The JD(U) is ready in defence formation ahead of Kumar junior's political foray. This leans on the argument that unlike Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had brought his full clan into politics, Nitish has remained an anti-dynast. Even if Nishant takes the centre stage, he will be the only member of the Nitish Kumar family to join politics. Thus, the Chief Minister's close aides argue that one dynast in the JD(U) versus the many in the RJD will settle the dynastic politics debate.

But the question lingers — will the BJP bless a dynast to take the political legacy of Nitish Kumar? The BJP is averse to promoting dynasts in alliance partners.

This has been seen in Maharashtra in the case of Uddhav Thackeray. But the BJP’s restricted social base in Bihar stops the saffron outfit from dictating terms with the JD(U). ‘Nitish Kumar hain zaruri (Nitish is essential)’ is a mainstay slogan of Bihar politics since 2005. This remains true for the 2025 Assembly elections as well.

Bihar Braces for Battle of the Sons

Bihar Assembly polls this year is thus set to become a battleground of sons. Tejashwi Yadav, Nishant Kumar, and Chirag Paswan are well-known names, each with high-profile fathers. Even the BJP leaders are unleashing their sons and daughters in the state's politics. This also stays true of the Congress and smaller outfits. 

Amid dynasts in the spotlight in Bihar’s political turf, Nishant will be late in joining politics by at least 15 years. But the JD(U) is gearing up to make up for the loss of time with the slogan – “Engineer versus 9th fail” – against Tejashwi Yadav. The battle horns have been blown.

(The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist with over two decades of political journalism with The New Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle, The Asian Age, and The Statesman This is an opinion article, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)