Nitish all set to take oath as Rajya Sabha member today

Patna: CM Nitish Kumar reached Delhi on Thursday to formally begin his shift from state politics to the national stage. He is scheduled to take oath as a Rajya Sabha member on Friday afternoon, fulfilling his personal wish of serving in all four legislative bodies — the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Bihar Legislative Council, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.“Nitish will be administered the oath as a member of the upper house in the chamber of the Rajya Sabha chairman C P Radhakrishnan,” an official said on Thursday.Soon after arriving at his Delhi residence, Nitish spoke briefly to the media, marking a rare public interaction after a long gap. “Tomorrow I will take the oath (as the member of the Rajya Sabha) and now I will stay here. I have worked here (Delhi) for a long time, now I will work here again,” he said, making clear that he intends to remain politically active in the national capital.At the same time, his remarks suggested he will continue to maintain a connection with Bihar and travel between Delhi and Patna. On the question of who would succeed him in Bihar, Nitish did not name anyone directly. Instead, he said, “New people will be given the responsibility.” Asked again about his preferred successor, he smiled and said, “I have done a lot of work in Bihar for 20 years, and the work will continue going forward.”Nitish did not respond when asked about his son Nishant Kumar, who joined the JD(U) on March 8. Even so, political speculation continues over whether Nishant may eventually take on a formal role in the party or in the next Bihar govt.JD(U) national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, who accompanied Nitish during the Delhi visit, said the process of forming a new govt in Bihar would begin after April 13. According to him, Nitish Kumar will resign as chief minister after the end of Kharmas, considered an inauspicious period in the Hindu calendar.Astrologers say the current Kharmas ends on April 14 at 11.25am, when the Sun enters Aries, after which auspicious ceremonies can resume.With Nitish moving to the Rajya Sabha and his nearly two-decade tenure in Bihar drawing to a close, the NDA is expected to choose a new chief minister on April 14.Sources in the NDA said Nitish is likely to call a meeting of the NDA legislature party after returning from Delhi to formally inform MLAs of his decision to step down. The meeting is expected most likely on the afternoon of April 14, soon after Kharmas ends. At that meeting, top NDA leaders may announce the name of the new chief minister. Sources said the new BJP-led govt could take oath any day after April 14.Senior JD(U) leader and Bihar parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who is also in Delhi for Nitish’s Rajya Sabha swearing-in, said, “Bihar will have a new NDA govt soon. The new govt will certainly follow the Nitish Kumar-created ‘Nitish model’.”He added, “The entire NDA is saying together, the BJP leaders are saying, the leaders of other constituent parties also are saying that the work Nitish Kumar has done in Bihar for 20 years, we will take it forward. The heights Bihar has achieved under the ‘Nitish model’, we will continue on the same path.”While JD(U) leaders insist the next BJP-led govt will carry forward the “Nitish model,” BJP workers are upbeat at the prospect of finally getting their own chief minister in Bihar, the only Hindi heartland state where the party has remained out of the top post despite being part of the ruling coalition for nearly two decades.Even after moving to the Rajya Sabha, Nitish Kumar is expected to retain considerable influence over Bihar politics and play the role of mentor to the incoming govt.