New Delhi: Fewer than four months after he took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the 10th time, Nitish Kumar announced on Thursday (March 5) that a new government will be formed in the state as he expressed his desire to move to the Rajya Sabha. A section of party supporters were seen protesting outside Nitish’s residence in Patna.The move comes just months after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the single largest party in the Bihar assembly elections in November, winning 89 seats. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 202 of the 243 seats in the state assembly, while Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) was reduced to a lower tally of 85 seats than the BJP.Nitish’s move to the Rajya Sabha comes despite the NDA insisting on the Bihar election campaign trail that the polls were being contested under his leadership. The insistence on the campaign trail came amid opposition allegations then that the BJP will not make Nitish the chief minister even if the NDA wins. With Nitish now being pushed to the centre, the opposition’s allegations seem to have been proven right. The BJP and the JD(U) not only contested an equal number of 101 seats each for the first time, the polls were also fought under the shadow of Nitish’s ill health and the BJP openly seeking to sideline him. The BJP was unwilling to declare him as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate, even though the party deemed it politically risky to contest an election without him at the helm. No joint rallies were held with Nitish and even the press conference to release the alliance’s manifesto lasted only 26 seconds, with the chief minister not speaking a word.The move to push Nitish out of the state government to the Rajya Sabha is also reminiscent of Maharashtra where the state assembly elections in 2024 were fought under then chief minister Eknath Shinde’s leadership, but following the Mahayuti alliance’s victory in the state, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was made the chief minister.In a statement on X on Thursday, Nitish put an end to speculation about a change in government in Bihar and said that he had always wanted to serve in both houses of the Bihar legislature and parliament.पिछले दो दशक से भी अधिक समय से आपने अपना विश्वास एवं समर्थन मेरे साथ लगातार बनाए रखा है, तथा उसी के बल पर हमने बिहार की और आप सब लोगों की पूरी निष्ठा से सेवा की है। आपके विश्वास और समर्थन की ही ताकत थी कि बिहार आज विकास और सम्मान का नया आयाम प्रस्तुत कर रहा है। इसके लिए पूर्व में…— Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) March 5, 2026“For more than two decades, you have consistently placed your trust and support in me, and it is on the strength of that trust that we have served Bihar and all of you with complete dedication. It was the power of your trust and support that has enabled Bihar today to present a new dimension of development and dignity. For this, I have expressed my gratitude to you many times in the past as well,” he said.“From the very beginning of my parliamentary journey, there has been a desire in my heart to become a member of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature as well as both Houses of Parliament. In keeping with this aspiration, I seek to become a member of the Rajya Sabha in the elections being held this time.”Nitish said that the new government that will be formed in the state will have his “cooperation and guidance.”“I want to assure you with complete honesty that my relationship with you will continue in the future as well, and my resolve to work together with you to build a developed Bihar will remain steadfast. The new government that will be formed will have my full cooperation and guidance,” he said.In the Bihar assembly elections, apart from the BJP and JD(U)’s 89 and 85 seats respectively, the other NDA constituents including Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) won 19 seats, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) won 5 and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) won 4 seats.Nitish has helmed the government in Bihar for the last two decades, since he first became chief minister in 2005, barring a short stint between 2014-15.Nitish’s move to the Rajya Sabha clears the decks for the BJP to have its own chief minister in the state. However, the move from the state to the capital also remains crucial as the JD(U) is the BJP’s key ally in the centre. In 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP fell short of a majority on its own and won only 240 seats, with both the JD(U) with its 12 Lok Sabha MPs and the TDP with its 16, emerging as the NDA’s crucial allies to form the government.RJD reacts, so does BJPFollowing Nitish’s announcement, the RJD alleged that the chief minister was not speaking in his own words, but echoing lines “scripted in the corridors of power above.”“It’s hardly likely that anyone would have any doubt or hesitation in assuming that this post doesn’t sound like Nitish Kumar ji’s own voice. There’s a strange, alien echo in the words, as if the sentences were crafted somewhere else and merely recited here. In it, one can clearly hear the rustle of the pen from the Delhi court. It feels as though the thoughts were penned in some quiet, orderly chamber in the country’s capital, then delivered to Patna by an ‘invisible messenger,’ and finally posted at the right moment by some appointed ‘custodian,” said RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha in a post on X.“In this new grammar of politics, words themselves have turned into migrants. Ideas are born somewhere, voices are lent elsewhere, and in the end, the credit goes to that name which carries the most convenient stamp. That’s why, sometimes, while reading posts like this, it feels like we’re not hearing a person’s expression at all, but rather a public recitation of lines scripted in the corridors of power above.”Bihar leader of opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also said that the party had alleged during the campaign trail that after the elections Nitish would not be kept as chief minister, and a “refined Maharashtra model” is being implemented in the state.“The conspiracies and tactics used in the Bihar elections were a victory of ‘dhantantra’ and ‘manchine tantra’. We were saying earlier also that the manner in which the NDA won was a victory of ‘dhantantra’ and ‘manchine tantra’. All NDA parties know how they won the Bihar elections. Now, Nitish Kumar has also posted (on social media) that he wants to go to the Rajya Sabha. We have been saying it since the beginning that the BJP will not let Nitish Kumar remain in the CM chair post elections. We had said then also that a refined Maharashtra model will be implemented in Bihar. The sentiments of the people is against this change in government,” he said to reporters in Patna.BJP MP and union minister Giriraj Singh however, denied that Nitish could be “sent” to the Rajya Sabha against his wish and said that he had expressed his desire to serve in the upper house of parliament.“Earlier as well, he had expressed his wish to be part of the Rajya Sabha. He has served the people through three Houses, Vidhan Parishad, Vidhan Sabha, and the Lok Sabha and wants to go to Rajya Sabha. No one can send him without his wish. The next government too will have his support,” he said to PTI.