Rajya Sabha Move: Nitish Keeps BJP, JD-U Guessing

Will Nitish Kumar file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha on Thursday morning?

Will Nitish Kumar, Bihar's longest serving chief minister, step down and move to the House of Elders, the Rajya Sabha?

No formal announcement has been made in this connection and confusion prevails in the ruling National Democratic Alliance, mainly in Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United, a section of which resists the Bharatiya Janata Party's move to install a senior BJP leader as chief minister.

Everything will be clear at 11 am on Thursday, March 5, when nomination papers for the biennial Rajya Sabha election have to be filed.

According to JD-U sources, JD-U Working President Sanjay Jha, Union Minister Lalan Singh, Bihar Ministers Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Ashok Choudhary have been trying to convince Nitish Kumar to agree to go to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha MP and facilitate a smooth transfer of power to the BJP.

These JD-U leaders has an hour long meeting with Nitish Kumar at 1, Aney Marg, the chief minister's official residence on Wednesday. Senior JD-U leaders also met at Sanjay Jha's residence.

"The BJP top leadership has been using a few senior JD-U leaders to convince Nitish to step down and agree to go to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha MP. But Nitish is Nitish, no prediction is possible," sources in JD-U said.

JD-U leaders in Patna feel Nitish should continue as chief minister because the Bihar electorate voted the NDA to power in November 2025 as a mandate for Nitish to continue as the chief minister.

A senior JD-U leader and a close confidant of Nitish Kumar told the media on Wednesday night that Nitish Kumar will continue to serve Bihar as chief minister.

Senior JD-U leaders, he said, had met Nitish Kumar in connection with the likely party candidate for the Rajya Sabha. The JD-U has already decided to nominate Union Minister Ramnath Thakur, socialist icon Karpoori Thakur's elder son, from one of the two seats that the JD-U will certainly win.

If Nitish does agree to go to the Rajya Sabha, the BJP is set to fulfill its dream of having one of its own leaders as chief minister.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, who is considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary's names are being cited in Patna as contenders for the chief ministership.

If the BJP succeeds in appointing one of its own as CM, political observers in Patna claim the JD-U will have two deputy chief ministers, including Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar, who is yet to join politics.

"Nishant is our best bet to keep the JD-U united and avoid a likely split in the party in the post Nitish era," a JD-U leader said.

"If Nishant is not around," he added, "the BJP will split the party or manipulate a merger."

Patna's political circles also claim that Amit Shah is likely to arrive in Patna on Thursday, adding muscle to the belief that Nitish Kumar will file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha on Thursday morning.