Union Home Minister Amit Shah unexpectedly arrived at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's official residence at 1 Anne Marg on Friday, and the development has raised eyebrows. The meeting between the two NDA allies in the poll-bound state has sparked discussions amidst rumours of disagreements within the alliance.
VIDEO | Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah) arrives at the Bihar CM's house to meet Nitish Kumar. #BiharElectionsWithPTI #BiharElections2025
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvqRQz) pic.twitter.com/oOBXornOrX
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 17, 2025
The conversation between Amit Shah and Nitish Kumar went on for about 45 minutes, Hindi media reports claimed citing sources, adding that election strategy and development plans were among the topics that were likely discussed.
The visit happened after Amit Shah's statements on the next Chief Minister of Bihar had led to speculations. The BJP leader had said the CM will be announced post result declaration despite the JD(U) having claimed that Nitish Kumar was the NDA's chief ministerial face. Meanwhile, JD(U) leader and Union Minister Lalan Singh said that Shah's statement was distorted. Lalan Singh said that Shah had said the same last time, since it is a tradition that the legislative party decides who the CM should be. Despite the JD(U) finishing behind the BJP in the last elections, Nitish Kumar was chosen as the CM, he pointed out.
"You people don't understand the point. Different parts of the Home Minister's statement are being distorted and presented. The Home Minister has repeatedly stated that we are contesting the Bihar Assembly elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. The Chief Minister will be decided by the legislative party," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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Former BJP president Shah was accompanied by party colleagues like the Union Minister and election-in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary during his Patna visit. Kumar, 75, meanwhile, had JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha by his side.
Amit Shah on Bihar number games
When asked whether he would "make" Kumar the CM again, Shah had said, "Who am I to do so? There is a procedure. The members of the legislature take the decision. Of course, we have said that the NDA is contesting the elections under the leadership of Nitish and there is no shred of doubt over that." To a pointed query as to whether the stand would be the same if the BJP outperformed the JD(U), Shah shot back: "We already have greater numbers, but Nitish is still the CM."
Amit Shah bristled when he was asked whether the BJP could do in Bihar what it did in Maharashtra, where Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde was denied another term as Chief Minister, after the saffron party won a larger number of seats in the assembly polls.
The BJP, on its part, despite having 80 MLAs in the outgoing assembly, has not insisted on having the upper hand, but agreed to contest the same number of 101 seats as the 45-strong JD(U). The arrangement has come as a shocker to hardliners in the BJP, who had been hoping that the party will muscle its way through to install its "own Chief Minister" in the only Hindi heartland state where the seat of power has eluded it. |
