Nitish Attempts To Avert Exit But Fails To Reach Magic Figure As RJD Collapse Makes It Inevitable

When Nitish Kumar, JDU president and Bihar Chief Minister, filed the nomination papers for the March 16 Rajya Sabha election on March 5 making a big shift from the Assembly to the Parliament after two decades of leading the Bihar Govt there was a sense of unease. On X, Nitish gave a very odd reason to quit the state political scene. He said wanted to become a Rajya Sabha MP after having been a MLA, MLC and Lok Sabha MP. It is being said that the JDU chief who has been elected as Bihar CM for 10 terms, had begun to feel the pressure to move on soon after the November 2025 Bihar assembly polls. JDU sources concede that Nitish’s fate was written into the script of Bihar results. Collapse of the RJD at the hustings, where it won a humble 25 seats, left Nitish with very little option to do a flip-flop or do a paltu ram. It was also said during the polls, the JDU strongholds had not backed the BJP adequately. Notwithstanding this, the BJP finished first with 89 seats and JDU bagged 85. To resist BJP pressure, Nitish began exploring an alternative in January itself. He tried to persuade Upendra Khushwaha to merge his party RLSP with 4 MLAs with JDU. Khushwaha didn’t respond as he may merge his party with the BJP. “To get a majority in Bihar Assembly, a ruling combine must have the support of 122 MLAs. Nitish realised he was getting nowhere near the magic figure. That is when he threw in his towel,” pointed out an old colleague. The BJP, had its own reason to effect change. The most important being Nitish was increasingly moving away from governance. Blame it on his failing health, power and decision-making was apparently being left to the state Chief Secretary.