India’s northern state of Bihar will for the first time be ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister. Longest-serving Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is hanging up his boots after a nearly 21-year stint. But he will remain in politics and has filed a nomination to join as a member of Parliament in the upper house, Rajya Sabha.

Nitish had just won a landslide election four months ago with the BJP party, led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came back to power in November 2025. 75-year-old Nitish was sworn in for a record 10th time. 

In the new equation in the Bihar state, Nitish’s son Nishant will enter politics and join the government, likely as deputy chief minister. 

Besides Nitish, four other NDA nominees, including BJP president Nitin Nabin, Union minister Ram Nath Thakur, and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party leader Upendra Kushwaha, are filing their nominations.

An interesting political twist in Bihar is that the BJP, which first joined hands with Nitish in 1996, allowed Nitish to remain Chief Minister in November last even though the BJP had a greater number of winning legislators than the JD(U) in both 2020 and 2025.