Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that he will contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Kumar is expected to step down as the chief minister if he wins the polls.
This has led to speculation that his son, Nishant Kumar, could be made the deputy chief minister and that a Bharatiya Janata Party leader could take over as the chief minister.
Nishant Kumar has not been active in politics.
In a social media post on Thursday, Nitish Kumar said that it had long been his desire to serve in all four legislative roles at the state and central level – a member of the legislative assembly and legislative council, as well as of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Kumar is currently a member of the legislative council. He has previously served terms as an MLA and Lok Sabha MP.
“In keeping with this aspiration, I seek to become a member of the Rajya Sabha in the elections being held this time,” he said.
The Bihar chief minister added: “I want to assure you with complete honesty that my relationship with you will continue in the future as well, and my resolve to work together with you to build a developed Bihar will remain steadfast.”
Nitish Kumar had become the chief minister for the 10th time in November after the National Democratic Alliance won the Assembly polls.
After Nitish Kumar’s announcement, Opposition parties accused the BJP of betraying the “people’s mandate”.
Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav said that the development has proved correct what his Rashtriya Janata Dal had been saying during the Assembly election campaign.
“Even [during Bihar elections], we had said that the BJP people have ‘hijacked’ Nitish Kumar and they will not let him sit on the chair again,” Yadav told ANI. “We had said that he would not stay in the chair for more than six months…”
He added: “The BJP has a history of ruining whoever it allies with…This power change is against the sentiments of the people.”
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that a “coup has been carried out in Bihar to seize power” and added that it was a “major betrayal of the people’s mandate”.
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the NDA had sought and got the mandate in Nitish Kumar’s name during the polls.
“This [Nitish Kumar contesting for Rajya Sabha] is taking Bihar for granted and playing games with the people of the state,” Bhattacharya said.
In Bihar, there are five vacant Rajya Sabha seats. Four candidates of the NDA are expected to be elected unopposed based on the composition of the Assembly. They include two legislators of the BJP and one from the Janata Dal (United).
BJP chief Nitin Nabin, who was a minister in the Nitish Kumar government, has been nominated by the party from Bihar. The Hindutva party has also nominated Shivesh Ram, a former MLA and current Bihar BJP general secretary, as its second candidate.
To win the fifth seat, the alliance will require three additional votes.
Elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats in 10 states are scheduled for March 16. Thursday was the last date of filing nominations for the polls.
The ruling NDA is expected to win about 19 seats. It currently has 133 MPs in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. The BJP alone has 103, which is 20 short of the majority mark of 123.
Following these polls, another 34 vacancies are expected to arise in the Upper House over the remainder of the year.
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