NEW DELHI: Currently, the two Deputy Chief Ministers, Vijay Sinha and Samrat Chowdhary, are both from the BJP.
Bihar is likely to see the appointment of a new Deputy Chief Minister before the end of this month, as the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) seeks to replace one of the two Deputy CMs with a leader from its own party.
Currently, the two Deputy CMs—Vijay Sinha and Samrat Chowdhary—are both from JDU’s alliance partner BJP. While Sinha belongs to the Bhumihar community, Chowdhary is from the Koeri-Kurmi community.
Sources in BJP and JDU indicate that of these two, it is most likely that Chowdhary will be replaced by a JDU leader of Kumar’s choosing.
Sources said that Kumar is likely to fly to London on a one month trip for medical reasons in the coming days and wants to ensure that a Deputy CM in place of Chowdhary is appointed before he leaves.
From the JDU, Kumar is likely to select retired bureaucrat Manish Verma, who was recently appointed as the national general secretary of the party, as the Deputy CM.
Verma is very close to Nitish Kumar and comes from his district of Nalanda. He belongs to the same Kurmi caste as Nitish Kumar. Earlier, R.C.P. Singh, another retired bureaucrat who later turned rebel, was seen as the party’s main mover and shaker due to his proximity to Kumar.
Others who are in line for the post, if Kumar decides not to go with Verma, include Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, who is Member of Legislative Council and has been a minister in the past.
Choudhary belongs to the Bhumihar community and is counted as a person who has stayed loyal to Kumar for years without fail.
Kumar, who has not been keeping well for the last few years, wants to have a loyalist with administrative experience as a Deputy CM, who will manage the state in his absence and during his recuperation.
Kumar had visited London in March this year.
The removal of Samrat Chowdhary, if it happens, will come as a double disappointment for him, as last month he was removed as the BJP state president prematurely.
Chowdhary had been appointed to the position in March 2023, with a typical tenure of at least three years. For comparison, Vishnu Dutt Sharma has been in the same post in Madhya Pradesh since February 2020.
Chowdhary was removed despite having a very warm relationship with state in-charge Vinod Tawde, who has swiftly emerged as one of the most influential leaders in the current BJP. This, among other reasons, was attributed to Chowdhary’s excessive “casteist” politics, which was repeatedly communicated to the central leadership by state leaders and other party well-wishers.
This had led to members of other communities adopting a negative attitude toward the BJP, which became evident in the Lok Sabha polls and subsequent by-polls.
BJP is looking to have its own CM in the state once the election results are announced in November next year when the state goes to the polls. For this, party strategists and well-wishers have indicated that it needs to address its recent perception of focusing only on backward communities.
The backward community is, as per readings, strongly entrenched with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the JDU. With election management specialist Prashant Kishor Pandey launching his own party in the coming days, which will focus significantly on forward voters, the BJP is concerned that its core voters, including the forward community, might drift towards Congress, RJD, and Pandey’s party if a course correction is not made.