Quiet, spiritual, now political: Nishant Kumar joins father Nitish’s party as JD(U) faces its succession moment

This was part of a series of carefully curated public appearances that Nishant has made of late, amid strong indications that he would join the party. On Sunday, he officially did so. Just days earlier, on Tuesday, JD(U) leader and state minister Shrawan Kumar announced Nishant’s impending entry into politics, saying, “On the eve of Holi, let us share good news: Nishant Kumar is soon going to join politics. It is the wish of the party rank and file.”

Nishant’s first steps in politics come at a time when his 75-year-old father is well ensconced in his chair. However, murmurs have continued about Nitish’s health and there has been a lingering anxiety in party circles about finding his political heir, someone who will navigate the alliance with the BJP. For many party workers and leaders, it is Nishant.

Out of public view

Fondly called Nishi by his friends and family, Nishant was born to Nitish and Manju Sinha, a schoolteacher, on July 20, 1975. With his father having jumped headfirst into politics, Nishant hardly saw him at home and was close to his mother, who raised him single-handedly, said sources close to the family.

Nishant was enrolled at St Karen’s School in Patna, but he was adversely affected when a teacher hit him. His father then moved him to a school in Mussoorie in Uttarakhand. “But Nishant did not like living away from his family. He was later admitted to Patna’s Central School from where he appeared for his Class 12 board exams,” said a source close to the CM House.

Among Nishant’s friends at BIT Mesra, near Ranchi, were Islampur MLA Ruhail Ranjan, son of the late Rajiv Ranjan, former Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey’s son Arjit Shashwat, Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary’s brother Rajesh Choudhary, and Amit Chourasia, the son of former Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad. “For the first two years at BIT, no one knew he was Nitish Kumar’s son,” said Ruhail.

Recalling a May 1999 incident, when Nitish was the Union Railways Minister, Ruhail said, “We had to take a train from Ranchi to Patna. While my ticket was confirmed, Nishant’s was not. He didn’t send a confirmation request. Eventually, we shared one berth.”

After completing his BTech in Computer Science in 2002, Nishant did not appear for job interviews and instead returned to Patna to live with his mother and maternal grandparents. After his mother died in 2007, Nishant moved in with his father at 1, Aney Marg, the CM’s official residence, alongside the extended family, including the cousins of his parents. “After his wife passed away, Nitish appeared more invested in his son. He preferred Nishant to stay close at home rather than step into a professional career immediately,” said a former legislator.

Leaders said that despite remaining out of public view, Nishant closely follows political developments and keeps himself informed about governance matters. “He has studied the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission (launched in 2019) thoroughly,” said a source close to Nishant, adding that he is an avid reader of books on socialism, contemporary Bihar, and the RSS, along with religious texts such as the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

Family friends drew parallels between father and son. “Both have spiritual leanings,” said one. “After engineering, Nitish read Osho extensively. Nishant, too, reads mystical and spiritual literature, both Indian and foreign.”

Asked if father and son discuss politics, A source in the CM House said, “Once Nitish Kumar is home, it’s a general father-son conversation. Politics is hardly discussed at the dinner table.”

Emerging from his father’s shadow

Leaders say Nitish long resisted the idea of his son entering politics. His long-standing criticism of dynastic politics — aimed at the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) — has made any move to promote his own son a delicate matter.

“He (Nitish) got so upset once and declared that as long as he was there, there should be no further talk of bringing Nishant into politics,” said a JD(U) leader.

Yet, there were signals. On January 8, 2025, Nishant made his first political statement in two decades. Accompanying Nitish to his hometown, Bakhtiyarpur, to unveil statues of freedom fighters, Nishant issued an appeal on the sidelines: “Vote for JD(U) and my father and bring him back.”

A month later, on February 25, he responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Nitish “ladle mukhyamantri (beloved CM)” at a Bhagalpur rally, demanding that the NDA officially declare his father the “CM candidate”.

The same month, a Facebook profile surfaced. Its name, in Hindi, was disarmingly simple: Nitish ke Nishant. It shared photographs of Nishant at public events alongside images of father and son. Sources said the page was handled by his nephew, Anuraj, a trained pilot.

However, as the question lingered about whether Nishant was cut out for politics, party leaders said he might be a rookie, but his ringside view of Bihar politics would serve him well. “If Tejashwi could become Deputy CM at 25, Chirag Paswan could become chairman of LJP’s parliamentary board in 2013, and Deepak Prakash (Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha’s son) can become a minister without being an MLA or MLC, why can’t Nishant join politics?” asked a JD(U) functionary.

Two broad camps

Over the years, Nitish’s experiments to find potential successors outside the family — Upendra Kushwaha, former JD(U) president R C P Singh and political strategist-turned politician Prashant Kishor — have not succeeded.

Wary about losing relevance if the CM does not anoint a successor, a section of party leaders wants Nishant to assume a larger role in the party, noting how several regional outfits with no clear succession plan have seen family members take up the leadership mantle. Apart from them, some close family members have also tried to convince Nitish to agree to Nishant’s political entry.

“Both these groups are telling Nitish how the BJP could gobble up the JD(U) once Nitish is no longer in control … They argue that Nishant alone can hold the party together, steer it through the next Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, and ensure the party’s longevity against a strong BJP,” said a source in the CM House.

Within the family, those championing Nishant’s cause include Nitish’s elder brother Satish Kumar and Nishant’s maternal uncle Prakash Singh, it is learnt. After Manju Sinha’s death, Prakash and his wife moved into the CM residence, while Satish began living there after their mother, Parmeshwari Devi, passed away in 2011. Satish has even spoken publicly in favour of his nephew. “I will speak to Netaji (referring to his brother),” he told the media in Kalyanbigha last month.

Sources said Shrawan Kumar, party national general secretary Manish Verma, spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, and others are among the JD(U) leaders supporting Nishant’s political entry. Verma, once seen as Nitish’s potential heir, backed the idea, saying, “Nishant is young and talented. The party will be stronger and state politics richer with his joining politics. Every worker of JD(U) wants him to join the party. It is now his call.”

However, there is another camp inclinedmaintainning the status quo. Among those seen as status quoists are Union Minister Lalan Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, the party’s national working president. While Jha — often described by his critics in the party as the BJP’s man in the JD(U) — has publicly kept the door open to the idea of Nishant entering politics, many believe both he and Lalan Singh are cautious about any shift that could disturb the current balance of power.

Along with senior bureaucrat Deepak Kumar, principal secretary to Nitish, they are widely regarded as the party’s principal decision-making core. “Nitish remains the party’s central authority, but much of the day-to-day management now flows through those around him,” said a source. The BJP and the JD(U) have been allies, sharing power, broadly for over two decades — barring a few years in the middle — and Bihar remains a crucial frontier for the BJP’s independent expansion.

Support for Nishant, meanwhile, has found expression on the ground. During Makar Sankranti in January, near the JD(U) office on Patna’s Bir Chand Patel Path, several posters marking the harvest festival cropped up, including one featuring the images of Nitish and Nishant that read, “Party ke sarvmanya pradhan, karyakartaon ki bhavna ka bhi ab rakhiye dhyan (Unanimous leader of the party, please take note of the feelings of party workers)”.

The next line read: “Nitish sevak maange Nishant … Chacha ji ke sapno ka nishan hai ye teer, bhai Nishant ji hai teer ka agli taqdeer (A servant of Nitish Kumar demands Nishant… The arrow is the symbol of Uncle Nitish’s dreams, and Brother Nishant is the future of this arrow).”

The symbolism is hard to miss. The festival marks the end of Kharmas, considered an inauspicious month, after which new and auspicious activities are traditionally believed to begin.

JD(U) sources said even Nitish appeared to have started coming around to the idea, pointing to a brief interaction between the two following the Assembly poll victory. When Nishant went to congratulate his father after briefly addressing the media, the CM told him, “Tum achha bole (you spoke well).”

The moment was captured on video and widely circulated online, a move that was carefully planned, said sources.

The road ahead

In one sense, JD(U) sources admitted, the party was at a crossroads. Its three most senior leaders are Lalan Singh, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, and Sanjay Kumar Jha. All three are upper-caste, which sits somewhat uneasily with the party’s OBC-driven, socialist political moorings.

Sources said none of them was seen as a natural successor to Nitish. Jha is widely perceived as being close to the BJP, Lalan is past 70, and Choudhary, who has roots in the Congress, is regarded as a consensus-builder who works within the leadership’s framework rather than asserting an independent line. Among the younger crop of leaders, too, there is no obvious claimant. In this vacuum, Nishant appears to be the only option.

“The party knows it would be quite tough to justify Nishant’s most likely entry into politics, but it is left with no option. Nishant also knows it. The fact is slowly dawning on Nitish as well,” said a senior JD(U) leader.

“We would rather be pragmatic than evaporate as a political party because of Nitish’s stand. The same Nitish Kumar who had earlier never allowed Nishant to visit the JD(U) office was pleased to see his son at the party office recently. This hints that he has been fast scaling down from his position on dynastic succession,” said an insider.

Opposition leaders have also welcomed the idea of Nishant entering politics. Former CM Rabri Devi said Nishant must join politics soon, while LoP Tejashwi went a step further: “If Nishant Kumar does not join the JD(U), the BJP will eat away the party.”

His biggest endorsement came from veteran socialist and former Rajya Sabha MP Shivanand Tiwari. “I have seen Nishi (Nishant) grow. He has remained completely non-controversial so far, something very remarkable. I have heard him speak on politics. He has my blessings,” said the RJD national vice-president.
But what does the man at the centre of all the buzz want? “Pitaji bol denge to aa jaunga politics (If my father gives the go-ahead, I will enter politics),” he is learnt to have told a confidant.