New 'Choudhary' of Magadh: Samarat's 'muretha' vow comes full circle with Nitish's exit

With Nitish Kumar stepping aside, Bihar’s political transition has unfolded much as expected since he announced his move to the Rajya Sabha. Once Nitish signalled his exit from state politics, the BJP move to elevate Samrat Choudhary, its most prominent and politically viable face in Bihar, to take charge of the government. However, the landmark transition in Magadh had its own flavour of twists and turns coupled with Nitish’s flip-flops. The man who once tied a saffron muretha on his head as a public pledge to unseat Nitish has now taken over the chair that the JD(U) chief occupied for two decades. Samrat Choudhary’s long and theatrical vow has come full circle, not through confrontation, but through the one force in politics that, when timed right, almost always delivers results.

Patience. Chosen unanimously as leader of the NDA legislature party, Samrat Choudhary now becomes the new face of power in Bihar and the first BJP leader to head the state government. His rise marks a defining moment not only for the BJP’s expansion in Bihar but also for a politician whose career has been built on reinvention, ambition and sharp political instincts.

Samrat’s political arch

Choudhary’s journey to the top has hardly followed a conventional BJP path.

Unlike many leaders nurtured within the Sangh ecosystem, he comes from outside that fold. His father, veteran politician Shakuni Choudhary, was a founding member of the Samata Party and a contemporary of both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav. Samrat himself began in the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the 1990s and entered government early, serving as a minister under Rabri Devi. Over the years, he moved across political camps, spending time in the JD(U) before eventually joining the BJP.

That shift transformed his career. Since entering the party, his rise has been swift and steep. In less than a decade, he climbed from a late entrant to state president, then deputy chief minister, and now chief minister.

The intertwined rise of Samrat & BJP

The BJP’s rise in Bihar has been gradual but unmistakable. In the 2015 assembly elections, it emerged as the single largest party in terms of vote share, securing 25 percent votes and 53 seats, yet remained out of power as the RJD and JD(U), with 80 and 71 seats respectively, combined under the Mahagathbandhan to form government. When Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA in 2017, the balance within the alliance had already begun to change. That shift became clear in the 2020 elections, when the BJP outperformed the JD(U), winning 74 seats against its ally’s 43. Nitish Kumar continued as chief minister, but the BJP had firmly established itself as the stronger force in the coalition.

By the 2025 elections, that transformation was complete. Although the NDA once again fought under Nitish Kumar’s leadership, the BJP emerged as the dominant partner with 89 seats, ahead of the JD(U)’s 85.

Even as Nitish retained the chief minister’s post, the BJP tightened its grip on the government by securing crucial ministries such as Home. Within a year, that growing dominance culminated in the party installing Samrat Choudhary as Bihar’s first BJP chief minister.

The muretha vow

The turning point came in 2022, when Nitish Kumar broke with the NDA and joined hands with the RJD again. The BJP responded by handing Choudhary the reins of its Bihar unit.

It was then that he made the vow that came to define his political persona. Wearing a muretha at every public appearance, he declared he would not remove it until Nitish Kumar was no longer chief minister.The image stuck. The turban became both a political symbol and a personal brand. For nearly two years, it marked him as Nitish’s most visible challenger. Then came the irony.When Nitish returned to the NDA in 2024 and Choudhary himself became deputy chief minister in the new coalition, the old rivalry gave way to partnership.Soon after, in Ayodhya, Choudhary brought the symbolism to an end.After offering prayers and taking a dip in the Saryu, he removed the muretha and offered it at the temple, declaring his vow fulfilled. At the time, Nitish was still in office. Now, with Nitish’s exit from Bihar and move to the Rajya Sabha, the deeper meaning of that oath finally seems to have been realised.

Why has BJP backed Samrat

For the BJP, Choudhary checks several strategic boxes. He is among the party’s strongest OBC faces in Bihar and belongs to the Kushwaha or Koeri community, a politically influential bloc that forms a significant part of the state’s electorate.

Combined with the Kurmi base long associated with Nitish Kumar, this gives the BJP a stronger social coalition among backward caste voters.

How will caste arithmetic play out

By placing Choudhary, a prominent Kushwaha leader, in the chief minister’s chair, the BJP is making a direct bid for the Koeri-Kushwaha vote, a politically influential bloc within Bihar’s non-Yadav OBC spectrum. The Kushwaha community alone accounts for about 4.2 percent of the state’s population and forms a crucial segment of the 12.86 percent non-Yadav OBC electorate that the BJP has been aggressively courting in recent years.

This move also allows the BJP to partially inherit Nitish Kumar’s backward caste arithmetic while reducing dependence on him. Nitish’s strength has long rested on the Extremely Backward Classes, or EBCs, which make up 36.01 percent of Bihar’s population. Though fragmented across 113 castes, a substantial non-Muslim EBC section, combined with Kurmi and Koeri voters, has traditionally rallied behind him. With Nitish stepping aside, the BJP is attempting to prevent that bloc from drifting by projecting Choudhary as a backward caste leader capable of holding together sections of that support base.

The BJP retains its traditional upper-caste base among Brahmins, Rajputs, Bhumihars and Kayasthas, while steadily expanding among non-Yadav OBCs and EBCs.

Beyond caste

Samrat's appeal lies not only in caste arithmetic. Choudhary has been active in Bihar politics since 1990 and has seen every major political phase in the state, from Mandal-era churn to coalition realignments and BJP expansion. That long experience, paired with his administrative exposure in key ministries such as finance, urban development and panchayati raj, has helped position him as more than just a symbolic appointment.

His rise has often drawn comparisons with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Like Sarma, Choudhary came into the BJP from outside, carried baggage from earlier political affiliations, and yet became one of the most trusted regional leaders for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. There have also been controversies along the way. His name surfaced in a 1995 murder case, though he has consistently denied wrongdoing and says no charges were framed against him.

In 1999, questions over his age briefly forced him to resign from ministerial office. Political opponents have also raised doubts about his educational disclosures. None of these episodes, however, has slowed his ascent. What makes his appointment politically potent is the layered irony it carries. The man who built his recent identity around opposition to Nitish Kumar has inherited Bihar only after becoming Nitish’s ally. The challenger has become the successor. In Magadh, where political memory runs deep and symbols matter, that arc gives this transition unusual weight. Bihar has a new Choudhary now, and his muretha vow, once seen as dramatic posturing, has largely ended as prophecy fulfilled.