How many times has Nitish Kumar been Bihar CM
What's the story
As the NDA heads for a landslide victory in Bihar, all eyes are on Nitish Kumar and the CM's post. The state's longest-serving CM has had a tumultuous political journey since he first entered the state assembly in 1985. He began his career with Janata Dal and was instrumental in getting Lalu Prasad Yadav elected as Leader of Opposition in 1989.
Political shift
Kumar's early years in BJP and 1st CM term
However, he soon fell out with Yadav and helped form a breakaway faction in 1994 called Janata Dal (George), which later became the Samata Party In 1996, Kumar switched his allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and served in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government as Railway, Surface Transport and Agriculture Minister from 1998-2004. He became Bihar's chief minister for the first time in 2000 but resigned after just seven days due to a lack of majority.
Alliance shifts
Kumar's alliance with RJD and return to BJP
In 2005, he returned as CM with BJP support and was re-elected in 2010. In 2013, Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP over Narendra Modi's prime ministerial candidacy. He then allied with Yadav again in 2015, forming a grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan) with Congress support and becoming CM once more. Two years later, he switched back to the NDA, citing corruption in the RJD, and once again took oath as CM.
2017
Took oath as CM 9 times
In 2020, the NDA, with the JD(U), won a narrow majority in Bihar's 243-seat assembly, and he took oath as CM again. But on August 9, 2022, he left the NDA, and rejoined the Mahagathbandhan. The following day, he took oath as CM for the eighth time. Then, in another twist, in January 2024, right before the Lok Sabha elections, he left the opposition's bloc and rejoined the NDA, taking oath as CM for the ninth time.