"We will sit down, decide on CM after elections": Amit Shah on whether Nitish Kumar will be Bihar CM if NDA wins

Patna (Bihar) [India], October 16 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday clarified that while the BJP believes in Nitish Kumar's leadership, the decision on the Chief Minister's post will be made by the alliance after the Bihar elections.
Shah emphasised that the party respects the alliance and its partners, and the final decision will be based on the outcome of the elections.
"Who am I to make someone a Chief Minister? There are many parties in the alliance; after the elections, we will sit down and decide on the CM. Now we are fighting the elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar", the Union Minister said during an interview with Aaj Tak's Anjana Om Kashyap.
When asked if the BJP gets more MLAs than their alliance partners, Shah replied, "Now also we have more (MLAs), but still Nitish Kumar is Chief Minister...Rajneeti (politics) cannot happen for TRP...you asked me what will happen later, then I gave you an answer."

Currently, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leads the government of Bihar. BJP is the largest party in the alliance with 84 seats, whereas its alliance partner, the Janata Dal (United) has 48, half of the number of their partner.
Shah highlighted Nitish Kumar's long history of opposing the Congress party and his experience as a socialist leader.
"Nitish Kumar is a very important leader in Indian politics. During his lifetime, he has never been in Congress. Even while being with Congress, he has never served with them for longer than 2.5 years, so if you want to evaluate someone's life, then we should consider this significant period. He is a socialist leader; since his political birth, he has opposed Congress. During the JP movement, too, he fought against Congress. I believe that the BJP definitely believes in Nitish Kumar, but also the people of Bihar believe in him", the BJP leader said.
Recalling the 2020 elections, Shah recalled how Nitish Kumar had offered the CM post to the BJP, but Prime Minister Modi considered his seniority and supported him as CM.
"BJP believes in the alliance. As I said before, we still made Nitish Kumar the CM. However, he had called the Prime Minister, saying that the alliance's convention states the larger party should have the CM, and we will support you. But PM looked at his seniority and told on behalf of the party that we do not object", he said.
Expressing the willingness to support the alliance regardless of the results of the polls, Union Minister Shah said, "In other states too, whether we got a complete majority or with partners, we have only run an NDA government. We have always respected the alliance, and this time too we will respect it".
In the current seat-sharing arrangement within the NDA, the BJP and JD(U) will be contesting 101 seats each, while the Lok Janshakti Party (headed by Ram Vilas) will contest 29 seats. The Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will contest six seats each.
The BJP and JD(U) have released their lists announcing all the candidates for their seats. The HAM party also announced its candidate list.
Nitish Kumar began his political career by joining the Jayprakash Narayan movement during the Emergency era in the 1970s. He joined the Janata Party in the post-emergency era and later moved to Janata Dal in 1989. Kumar has been serving as Bihar's Chief Minister since 2005, with the support of the NDA on several occasions. He has been part of the National Democratic Alliance since its formation. However, he had quit the bloc in 2013 and 2022, but later reunited in 2017 and 2024.
Polling for the Bihar elections 2025 will take place on November 6 and 11. The results will be announced on November 14. (ANI)