Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, the JD(U) may welcome Chief Minister’s Nitish Kumar’s son into the party fold.
JD(U) leaders told Indian Express that Nishant Kumar was likely to join active politics after Holi. “He seems to be ready to join politics. It is only about getting the green signal from Nitish Kumar," a JD(U) source close to the CM told Indian Express.
Nitish Kumar, who is in his 70s, is the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar.
Nishant (48) accompanied his father to their hometown of Bakhtiyarpur on January 8 to unveil statues of freedom fighters. Speaking on the sidelines of the event, he told reporters: “If it is possible, please vote for the JD(U) and my father and bring him back (in the elections scheduled for later this year).”
This was his public appeal for the party.
Who is Nishant Kumar?
Nishant is the only son of Nitish Kumar and the late Manju Sinha. An engineering graduate from the Birla Institute of Technology in Mesra, Nishant was last seen at a political function at the time of his father’s oath-taking ceremony in 2015. In July 2024, he had rejected speculations of his entry into politics and said he had chosen the path of spirituality.
The JD(U) officially has not commented on his entry. However, several party leaders hinted at Nitish’s imminent entry into the party. “(RJD head) Lalu Prasad had projected his son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as the next leader of the party in 2013. Ram Vilas Paswan also projected his son Chirag around the same time. It was Chirag who had been instrumental in bringing LJP to the NDA fold before the 2014 polls. That decision changed the political fortunes of the LJP. Similarly, Tejashwi had led the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan to 110 seats — only 12 short of a majority — in the 2020 Assembly polls,” a JDU leader told India Express. According to him, if Nishant had joined politics a decade ago, “he could have been a natural heir to Nitish Kumar”.
In June last year, JD(U) state General Secretary Pram Hans Kumar said it was the demand of the time and the situation that Nishant Kumar came forward for the welfare of the party and the state. “Nitish Kumar opposes ‘parivarvaad’ but if a leader with a clean image has a son who wants to serve the country and the state honestly, then what is wrong with it?" he said.
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