Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asserted that he would cooperate with the new NDA government, likely to be sworn-in on Wednesday.
Addressing his ministerial colleagues in the last cabinet meeting, Nitish told them to work together with the new government to be formed in the state. "I will guide the new government," he remarked.
Nitish, who is also the JD (U) president, said that a lot of work had been done during his tenure and more work would be done in future. He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for extending full support to the state government for the development of the state for the last 11 years.
Nitish`s latest move marks a major shift in the state politics as his over two-decade rule has a distinct character. He managed to contain BJP`s Hindutva politics to a large extent even while sharing power with the saffron party. At the same time, Nitish also checked RJD from playing out caste politics and also from Yadav hegemony returning to the political and social arena while running the government with Lalu`s party.
Nitish’s departure from state politics also marks the end of a long political career as he is considered the last major leader of the socialist, JP-movement era in Bihar. Through his special thrust on inclusive growth and women empowerment, he built a strong support base of non-Yadav OBCs, particularly Kurmis and Kushwahas (known as Luv-Kush), EBCs, Mahadalits and women.
But Nitish`s exit from the state politics is definitely going to raise some questions, most importantly what will happen to his core voter support base as he finally moves to Rajya Sabha.
