With a majority in Bihar assembly polls, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is all set to form government in Bihar. NDA has also made it clear that the next CM of Bihar will be Nitish Kumar. However, several names are popping up for the post of deputy chief minister in Bihar.
Here’s a list of leaders who are in the race for becoming the next deputy chief minister of Bihar:
Sushil Kumar Modi
The incumbent deputy CM of Bihar and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi is believed to be the one who is leading this race. Although there were several reports claiming that he will be given different portfolio this time, several reports have also confirmed that he will be the next deputy cm of Bihar.
Kameshwar Chaupal
In addition to Manjhi and Modi, name of Kameshwar Chaupal's name is also being speculated for the post of deputy CM.
There is a buzz that the Dalit leader of the BJP, who laid the foundation stone for Ram Mandir at the shilanyas site in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya in 1989, is likely to replace Sushil Kumar Modi and bag the Deputy CM post.
An RSS swayamsevak, Kameshwar Chaupal is currently a member of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust. He was given the chance of performing the first 'shilanyas' as part of the Sangh Parivar’s social engineering. He coined the slogan ‘Ram with Roti’.
Chaupal unsuccessfully contested the 1991 Lok Sabha poll and assembly polls in 1995 but lost both times. In 2014, Chaupal contested on BJP ticket from Supaul and lost to Congress' Ranjeet Ranjan.
If reports are to be believed, BJP is considering his name for the top post, because, after the demise of Ram Vilas Paswan and tussle with his son Chirag Paswan, BJP needs a Dalit face in the state.
Jitan Ram Manjhi
Former CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi has made it clear that he will not become a minister in the new government headed by Nitish Kumar. However, he is one of the prominent names while discussing the leaders in the race.
Manjhi started his political career with the Congress in 1980. He later joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and then the Janata Dal-United JD(U).
Manjhi quit the JD(U) in 2015 after being forced to step down as the chief minister to make way for the return of Kumar. Kumar had resigned as chief minister following the JD(U)’s drubbing in the 2014 Parliamentary election.
