Ally Nitish Kumar will remain Chief Minister for a full term till the next Assembly polls in 2025, BJP's Bihar unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal said Tuesday, seeking to end speculation the JD(U) leader is moving to Delhi for a top Constitutional post and the saffron party is installing its first-ever CM in the state. “Nitish Kumar has been CM and will remain so till 2025 polls,” Jaiswal told The Indian Express on Tuesday. “We all are working under him as the state CM.” Jaiswal's comments come amid reports Kumar will move to Rajya Sabha when six seats from Bihar fall vacant in July, and may be made Vice-President. There are also reports the BJP, which has never had its own CM in Bihar, is pushing for Ujiarpur MP and Union minister Nityanand Rai as Kumar's replacement. Rai has reportedly been playing a lead role in organising the event to commemorate 1857 Rebellion hero Veer Kunwar Singh at Jagdishpur on April 23 as part of the Centre's 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. He will be sharing the stage with Home Minister Amit Shah. BJP sources said letting Rai have the big stage is the saffron party's way of gauging his acceptability among the upper castes, its core constituency. Till the filing of this report, Nitish was not invited to the event. JD(U), meanwhile, has been treading cautiously. A party leader said: “Common logic says Nitish will surely remain CM till the next election and BJP would not like to disturb the NDA leadership for its winnability factor, both in Assembly and in Lok Sabha polls. But something is definitely brewing in Bihar politics.”
