Bihar, March 5: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has officially announced his intention to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The 75-year-old leader stated that the new state cabinet would continue to have his full support.
In a post on X, Kumar said, “For over two decades, your trust and support have enabled us to serve Bihar with dedication. It is this trust that has allowed Bihar to achieve new milestones in development and dignity. From the start of my parliamentary journey, I have aspired to be a member of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature as well as Parliament. In line with this aspiration, I now seek to become a member of the Rajya Sabha. I assure you that my relationship with the people of Bihar will remain unchanged, and my commitment to building a developed Bihar will continue. The new government will have my full cooperation and guidance.”
Kumar is Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister and has had a long and eventful political career. He entered politics as a member of the Janata Dal, becoming an MLA in 1985. In 1994, he co-founded the Samata Party with George Fernandes, and in 1996 was elected to the Lok Sabha, later serving as a Union Minister in the Vajpayee government.
In 2005, the NDA won a majority in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, and Kumar became CM leading a coalition with the BJP. The coalition was re-elected in 2010, but Kumar later broke with the BJP in 2013 to form an alliance with the RJD and Congress. He was briefly replaced by Jitan Ram Manjhi in 2014 but returned in 2015, leading the Mahagathbandhan to victory. Kumar rejoined the NDA in 2017, left again in 2022, and returned once more in 2024. In 2025, he won his fifth election landslide, taking the CM’s office for the tenth time.
