Nitish Kumar joins a long list of Bihar CMs whose children stepped into politics

PATNA: Nitish Kumar is not the first Bihar chief minister to introduce his son to politics. A long list of former CMs have seen their sons and daughters enter the political arena in the past or remain active even today, often fuelling debates over “dynastic politics.”Former CM couple Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, Jagannath Mishra, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Bhagwat Jha Azad are among those CMs who introduced their son or daughter to politics. However, veteran socialist leader and former CM Karpoori Thakur, during his lifetime, did not allow any of his three sons or his only daughter to join politics. Karpoori’s son Ramnath Thakur joined politics only after his father’s demise.Ramnath is currently a minister in the Narendra Modi govt at the Centre. “My father Karpoori Thakur never wanted me to enter politics. He did not allow any of his three sons to join politics during his lifetime. I entered politics only after his death,” Ramnath, who was at the JD(U) office to witness the joining of Nishant in the party, told reporters on Sunday.Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, both former CMs, have the most extensive family presence in state politics, with several of their nine children having held key positions in the govt and parliamentary system.Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the youngest son and designated political successor to Lalu Prasad, served two terms as the deputy CM of Bihar, and he currently holds the post of the leader of opposition in the state assembly.Tej Pratap Yadav, Lalu’s eldest son, served as a cabinet minister in the state. In late 2025, he founded a new party, the Janshakti Janata Dal, following a public rift with his family.Misa Bharti, the eldest child of Lalu and Rabri, is the MP from the Patliputra seat. She was earlier a member of the Rajya Sabha from Bihar.Rohini Acharya, the second eldest daughter of Lalu and Rabri, contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Saran seat. In Nov 2025, she announced her exit from politics following internal family disputes.Santosh Kumar Suman, son of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, is a cabinet minister in the Nitish Kumar-led govt in Bihar.Nitish Mishra, son of Jagannath Mishra, also served as a cabinet minister in the JD(U)-BJP-led coalition govt. Nitish Mishra, a BJP leader, is currently an MLA.Two of the three sons of former Bihar CM Bhagwat Jha Azad actively pursued careers in politics. They are Kirti Azad and Rajvardhan Azad.Kirti Azad is the sitting MP from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency in West Bengal, representing the TMC, a seat he won in the 2024 general elections. Rajvardhan is an MLC in Bihar.Kirti also spent over two decades with the BJP, serving as an MLA from Delhi’s Gole Market (1993-1998) and a three-time MP from Darbhanga, Bihar (1999, 2009, and 2014). He was suspended from the party in 2015 after targeting senior leadership over alleged corruption in the DDCA. He joined Congress in 2019 and contested unsuccessfully from Dhanbad.Former IPS officer Nikhil Kumar, son of Satyendra Narain Sinha, also entered politics after his father’s death. Nikhil served as a MP and later as the governor of Kerala and Nagaland.