Patna: It is official now. Samrat Choudhary, who served as the deputy chief minister and held a crucial home portfolio in the previous Nitish Kumar regime, has been picked by the BJP’s top brass for the post of chief minister.
His elevation to the post of CM is seen as the trust of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah as well as that of Nitish Kumar in his administrative skills and his ability to work in tandem with NDA`s all allies.
It is a historic moment for BJP as it will be the first time when the party will have its chief minister in Bihar as it continued to play second fiddle to Nitish Kumar and his party, JD (U) for the last more than two decades.
Born on November 16, 1968, in Lakhanpur village of Munger, Samrat completed his primary education locally and later pursued higher education at Madurai Kamaraj University. His father, Shakuni Choudhary, was a six-time MLA and an MP, while his mother, Parvati Devi, was an MLA from the Tarapur constituency. Choudhary entered active politics in 1990. He became agriculture minister in Bihar in May 1999 during Rabri Devi's government. He was elected as an MLA from the Parbatta constituency in 2000 and 2010. In 2010, he became the chief whip of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly.
Originally associated with RJD and JD(U), Samrat Choudhary planned a split in the RJD in 2014, defecting 13 MLAs to form a splinter group. After years in the RJD, he joined the Janata Dal (United) in 2014 and served as a minister in the government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi. He was also a founding member of Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha in 2015.
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Samrat joined BJP in 2017. In March 2023, he was appointed Bihar BJP president, replacing Sanjay Jaiswal. When Nitish Kumar was running a government with RJD and its allies, Samrat symbolically wore a turban as a vow to remove Nitish Kumar from the chief minister's post. He removed the turban in July, 2024 after Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA. In January 2024, Samrat became the BJP legislative party leader and deputy chief minister. He was given key portfolios including finance, health, urban development, and panchayati raj. After NDA returned to power by registering a landslide victory in the last state polls, Samrat was again made deputy chief minister and also given the home portfolio, giving clear indication about his growing stature in BJP.
