{"id":42478,"date":"2025-10-17T16:19:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T10:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/17\/bihar-cm-decision-stunner-shah-wont-back-nitish\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:19:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T10:49:01","slug":"bihar-cm-decision-stunner-shah-wont-back-nitish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/17\/bihar-cm-decision-stunner-shah-wont-back-nitish\/","title":{"rendered":"Bihar CM Decision Stunner: Shah Won\u2019t Back Nitish?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Delhi [India], October 16:<\/b> Union Home Minister Amit Shah landed in Patna on Thursday and delivered a master class in political ambiguity. Asked point-blank whether Nitish Kumar would continue as Bihar\u2019s chief minister if the NDA wins, Shah served up a non-answer wrapped in democratic rhetoric: \u201cWho am I to make someone chief minister?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Spoiler alert: he\u2019s literally the guy who makes those calls.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Shah told Aaj Tak that the Bihar CM decision would rest with newly elected MLAs after the November 6 and 11 elections.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The timing couldn\u2019t be sharper. Hours before Shah\u2019s Patna appearance, Nitish launched the JDU\u2019s campaign in Samastipur with a rally staged under a massive hoarding of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Subtle as a sledgehammer. The 73-year-old sought his next term by asking voters to remember his two-decade transformation of Bihar, from \u201cjungle raj\u201d (though he didn\u2019t use that exact phrase) to functional governance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe condition earlier was so bad that people were afraid to step out after dark,\u201d Nitish told the crowd, referencing his first stint starting November 24, 2005. He rattled off the usual checklist: schools, hospitals, roads, village electrification. Standard campaign fare, delivered with the enthusiasm of someone reading the phone book.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

BJP\u2019s Not-So-Hidden Agenda<\/b><\/h2>\n

Shah\u2019s dodge confirms what everyone already suspected. The BJP wants its own man in the top job. They\u2019ve never had a chief minister in Bihar, a state traditionally dominated by Mandal politics. That sticks in their craw.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shah even threw in a backhanded compliment, recalling how the BJP graciously made Nitish CM after 2020 despite winning more seats. \u201cNitishji had called PM Narendra Modi and said Bihar should have a BJP chief minister,\u201d Shah revealed, positioning the gesture as pure magnanimity. The subtext screamed: don\u2019t expect us to be that generous twice.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For the JDU, Shah\u2019s comments land like a gut punch. The party\u2019s been telling voters and workers that the BJP agreed to another Nitish term. That narrative just got kneecapped on live television.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The seat-sharing numbers tell their own story. Both BJP and JDU are contesting 101 seats each in the 243-member assembly. Equal partners on paper. But the BJP\u2019s fingerprints are all over the JDU\u2019s candidate list this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nitish fielded just four Muslim candidates, down from 10 in the previous election. The BJP? Zero Muslim candidates across all 101 seats. For a leader who built his brand on secularism and welfare schemes for minorities, that\u2019s a sharp pivot. Bihar\u2019s 16 percent Muslim electorate might notice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The JDU\u2019s new candidate mix leans heavily on traditional bases: 37 OBCs, 22 Extremely Backward Classes, 22 upper castes. Nitish is clearly betting his reduced political leverage means he can\u2019t afford to chase Muslim votes against the PM Modi-Shah juggernaut.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, on the campaign trail, Nitish tried reconnecting with Muslim voters. \u201cEarlier, there used to be many communal incidents, but since my government came to power, there has been peace and harmony,\u201d he said. Words are cheap. Candidate lists speak louder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposition\u2019s Self-Inflicted Chaos<\/b><\/h2>\n

While the NDA sorted its house, the Mahagathbandhan opposition is eating itself. Mukesh Sahni\u2019s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) wants 40 seats. Tejashwi Yadav\u2019s RJD capped them at 15. Sahni, who calls himself the \u201cSon of Mallah,\u201d is refusing to budge.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The VIP claims to represent Bihar\u2019s fishing communities (Mallah, Nishad, Nonia, Bind, Beldar), roughly 2.61 percent of the state\u2019s population per the 2023 caste census. They won four seats in 2020 contesting just 11. Then three MLAs defected to the BJP. One died. Now they have zero representation but want nearly 17 percent of the assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sahni\u2019s also demanding the deputy CM post. When told people might not like that, he shot back: \u201cIf some people do not like Tejashwi Yadav to be the Chief Minister, will he not be?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bold. Delusional. Probably both.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The seat-sharing mess means \u201cfriendly fights\u201d where opposition parties field candidates against each other. Congress versus CPI in Bachhwara. Congress versus RJD in Vaishali. CPI versus VIP in Janjharpur. Ground-level workers are confused and directionless, waiting for clarity that isn\u2019t coming.<\/span><\/p>\n

The RJD withdrew its candidate from Alamnagar at the last minute to accommodate VIP\u2019s Brahmadev Sahni after initially issuing an election symbol to Navin Nishad. Workers are pissed. Voters are watching.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supreme Court \u2013 ECI Clash Over Voter List<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Supreme Court weighed in Thursday on Bihar\u2019s controversial special intensive revision (SIR) of voter rolls. Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi told the Election Commission they expect full transparency on deleted and added voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The ECI filed an affidavit rejecting claims of \u201cdisproportionate exclusion of Muslims,\u201d calling the accusation \u201cbaseless and communal.\u201d The poll body noted it doesn\u2019t record voters\u2019 religion, so bias allegations are unfounded.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

NGO Association for Democratic Reforms alleged 25 percent of 65 lakh excluded voters were Muslim, and 34 percent of the final 3.66 lakh deleted names. ECI said these numbers rely on name-recognition software of questionable accuracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker: zero appeals have been filed against the 3.66 lakh deleted voters.<\/strong> The court slammed political parties for not helping excluded voters appeal. \u201cPolitical parties were never interested. We all know how political parties have behaved,\u201d Justice Kant observed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most deleted names were people who didn\u2019t submit enumeration forms, shifted permanently, or died, according to ECI. Political parties filed just 25 inclusion claims and 119 objections. Individual voters filed 36,475 inclusion and 2.17 lakh exclusion claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ECI<\/a><\/strong> also convened enforcement agency heads to combat cash, drugs, liquor, and inducements during polling. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar emphasized \u201czero-tolerance\u201d for fair elections, directing agencies to map constituencies and borders to check smuggling routes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

For Indian voters watching this election, there\u2019s a lesson: coalition politics is transactional theatre. Today\u2019s ally is tomorrow\u2019s footnote. Nitish built his career on switching sides and cutting deals. Now he\u2019s discovering the house always wins eventually.<\/p>\n

The irony? Nitish\u2019s best chance at another term might be the opposition\u2019s incompetence. If the Mahagathbandhan keeps eating itself, the NDA wins by default. Then, the MLA Shah mentioned? They\u2019ll do exactly what PM Modi and Shah tell them to do. Democracy in action, Bihar style.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PNN News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Delhi [India], October 16: Union Home Minister Amit Shah landed in Patna on Thursday and delivered a master class in political ambiguity. Asked point-blank whether Nitish Kumar would continue as Bihar\u2019s chief minister if the NDA wins, Shah served up a non-answer wrapped in democratic rhetoric: \u201cWho am I to make someone chief minister?\u201d…<\/p>\n

Read More “Bihar CM Decision Stunner: Shah Won\u2019t Back Nitish?”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[635],"class_list":["post-42478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}