Nitish Returns as Bihar CM for the 10th Time: What's the Secret of His Success?

'Pachees se Tees, Narendra aur Nitish' (2025 to 2030, Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar), the NDA's slogan for the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, is now a reality, with Nitish Kumar taking oath as the chief minister for the 10th time on Thursday, 20 November.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha also take oath as the deputy chief ministers.In all, 26 Cabinet Ministers took oath, out of which 14 are from the BJP, 8 from JD(U), 2 from Lok Janshakti Party (RV) and one each from Hindustani Awam Morcha (S) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).One thing is clear - Nitish Kumar's name will now be seen as synonymous with Bihar, the way Naveen Patnaik was synonymous with Odisha until his defeat in 2024. So what's the secret behind Nitish Kumar's success? How has he remained unbeaten even after being in power directly or indirectly since 2005, despite multiple flip-flops?The JD(U) has consistently retained strong support among Kurmis, Koeris, Extremely Backward Castes, and Mahadalits. Over his years in power, Nitish Kumar greatly increased representation from these sections by pushing for quotas within quotas. Many in these sections also see him as a more benign option compared to the Yadav-dominated RJD and upper caste-dominated BJP. For many non-Yadav OBCs and non-Paswan Dalits, Nitish Kumar is seen as a leader who can protect their interests against more assertive communities.Nitish Kumar has maintained a certain ideological ambiguity, or as his supporters say, an ideological middle ground, in politically polarised times.He has presented himself as a social justice politician who is not opposed to the upper castes or Hindutva.To Muslims, he presented himself as a BJP ally who was not hostile towards them.This has helped him reconcile even competing sections.The unemployment crisis in Bihar and the large scale migration from the state, does raise questions about Nitish Kumar's development track record. However, his regime managed to escape blame for it through a combination of welfarism and social engineering.Nitish Kumar's championing of prohibition, despite its questionable implantation, has endeared him to women voters. In urban areas, many women who have experienced the previous RJD regime do say that law and order improved under Nitish Kumar.To add to that, welfare schemes and direct cash transfers targeted towards women further cemented Nitish Kumar's goodwill.According to most pre-poll surveys, NDA had a sizable lead among women voters.Another crucial way by which Nitish Kumar has managed to preserve his relevance despite multiple U-turns is by keeping friendly relations even with political rivals.Despite a bitter political rivalry between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, the two always maintained cordial relations at a personal level. When Kumar was in the Mahagathbandhan camp, he preserved his friends in the BJP like the Late Sushil Kumar Modi and Arun Jaitley. Over the years he also developed a direct personal rapport with PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, despite the ups and downs in their relationship.This extended to many estranged colleagues as well. After making him the CM, Kumar was behind the unceremonious removal of Jitan Ram Manjhi from office in 2015. Manjhi left the JD(U) and formed the Hindustan Awam Morcha. But in the 2020 elections, Manjhi became one of Nitish's strongest backers. The same goes for Upendra Kushwaha, who had fallen out with Nitish because of his decision to split ranks with the BJP in 2013. Kushwaha has also come around to being a strong Nitish supporter.

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Nitish Returns as Bihar CM for the 10th Time: What's the Secret of His Success?

Despite being in power since 2005 and multiple flip-flops, how does Nitish Kumar manage to win?

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Topics: Nitish Kumar Bihar politics Mahagathbandhan