Bihar’s longest serving chief minister is expected to return to Patna on April 11 and submit his resignation to the Governor the next day.
Sources said Nitish will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital to discuss the name of his successor, who will be from the BJP.
This will be the first time the BJP will have its own chief minister in Bihar, even though the party has been in power for the past two decades.
Deputy Prime Minister Samrat Choudhary, a Kushwaha caste, is the front-runner among the possible prime ministerial candidates.
Other names doing the rounds are Union Minister Nityanand Rai, BJP MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia and State Industries Minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal.
Samrat Choudhary, MLA from Tarapur in Munger, is considered close to Amit Shah and Nitish Kumar.
Moreover, his chances look great as he belongs to the Kushwaha community, which falls under the Other Backward (OBC) community.
Kushwahas (or Koeris) and Kurmi (caste to which Nitish belongs) are the second largest group in the OBC category after Yadavs in the state.
“If Nitish Kumar has any say in choosing his successor, he will suggest Samrat Choudhary’s name,” said a senior JD(U) leader.
