Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary (54) and Vijay Kumar Sinha (64)  on Sunday emerged as dark horse in the second generation leadership of BJP in Bihar. 

Choudhary, who belongs to backward caste, is likely to get Home portfolio in the new Nitish Kumar Cabinet while Sinha is from upper caste. Other party leaders who are likely to be made Ministers in the new Government are Nitin Nabin, Shahnawaz Hussain,  Rampreet Paswan, Neeraj Singh Babloo. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who was deputy to Nitish Kumar when the BJP and the JD(U) was in an alliance in the State, is wanted back in the State.

Sources said Bihar has as many as 40 Lok Sabha seats, making it very significant politically. The bigger picture appears to be the factor that led the BJP to welcome Nitish, infamous for his flip-flops, back into the NDA fold.

As the country gears up for the Lok Sabha polls next year, the BJP now appears a formidable force armed with the charisma of Prime Minister Modi and meticulous election machinery.  Addressing a Press conference in Patna , shortly after he attended Kumar’s swearing in with his party as an alliance partner, BJP national president JP Nadda asserted that NDA will “sweep” the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He said the new NDA Government headed by Nitish will make ‘Ujjwal Bihar.’”The people of Bihar had given the mandate in the last Assembly polls to our natural alliance with Nitish. Bihar has gained whenever we have been in power together, be it in terms of law and order or economic development,” he said.

He asserted that “Bihar will again see growth propelled by double engine, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm at the Centre”.

With the latest development, the present generation leaders of BJP in Bihar are likely to be sidelined in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.  On Sunday, Choudhary was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party on Sunday and Sinha as his deputy.

Choudhary, a Kushwaha OBC leader, was appointed as Bihar’s State president last year replacing Sanjay Jaiswal Choudhary, a crucial State for the BJP, reportedly due to the closeness to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He was appointed as Bihar BJP chief as the BJP had hoped to engineer a split in Nitish’s core “Luv-Kush” (OBC Kurmi-Koeri) vote base.  He was given the task to deliver the 2025 Assembly polls for the party.

Known to be a vocal critic of Nitish, Choudhary had started wearing a turban after the JD(U) supremo dumped the BJP last year, vowing to take it off only after his party returns to power. He often criticised the JD(U) supremo on “administrative lapses”, even when the BJP was part of the ruling alliance.

Before joining the BJP in 2018, Chaudhary was a member of Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United). He left the RJD in 2014 and joined the JD(U).

His father, Shakuni Choudhary was an army man-turned-politician who started off in the Congress, and frequently switched allegiance between arch-rivals Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. Samrat was a Minister in the Government headed by Rabri Devi, the RJD supremo’s wife, and remained with the party for quite a while after it was ousted from power in 2005.

In 2014, he became part of a rebel faction and joined the JD(U) Government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi, who had taken over after Kumar had stepped down.

Three years later, he grew disenchanted with the JD(U) and joined the BJP, which recognised his potential, both as a fiery speaker and as a leader belonging to the prominent Koeri caste. Choudhary was made a vice-president of the State unit and was later rewarded with a berth in the legislative council. He became a Minister in Kumar’s Government after the NDA won the 2020 Assembly polls.

He  has also served as Panchayati Raj Minister in the expanded Cabinet of the Nitish Government from BJP quota in 2021. He has also served as Minister for Urban Development and Housing, Health in 2014 in Jitan Ram Manjhi Ministry and Minister of Metrology and Horticulture in 1999 in Rabri Devi Ministry.

Chaudhary entered active politics in 1990, and on May 19, 1999, he was sworn in as the Minister of Agriculture in the Bihar Government. He contested from Parbatta (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in 2000 and 2010 and was elected MLA.

On other hand, an experienced upper-caste BJP leader, Sinha has held posts as varied as the Bihar Assembly Speaker, a Cabinet Minister and Leader of the Opposition.

Sinha, who belongs to the influential Bhumihar community, was an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS’ student wing, while pursuing a diploma course in civil engineering at a polytechnic in Barauni.

Sinha made his debut in the Assembly in 2010 and got a ministerial berth seven years later, when he was given the crucial labour resources department.

Seen as a mature leader, he was chosen by the BJP for the job of the Speaker in 2020, after the party gained the upper hand in the NDA, outperforming Nitish’s JD(U), and asserted its right to have its own man in the chair.

He came across as an amicable figure who rarely lost his cool, despite incidents like Kumar’s outburst on the floor of the House and being held hostage inside his chamber by members of the RJD, both of which made headlines.

Sinha resigned from the post in 2022, when Kumar joined hands with the RJD-led ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and the new alliance in power threatened to bring a no-confidence motion seeking his removal. He was subsequently made the Leader of the Opposition and took a vocal stand against the Government on issues like alleged ill-treatment of people from Bihar in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, BJP MLAs and MPs met on Sunday at 10 am at the party office in Patna to further chalk out the strategy over the latest political situation in Bihar.

“In the legislative party meeting held today, BJP MLAs approved the proposal to form an NDA Government in the State with JD(U)’s support. State BJP president Choudhary was elected leader of the legislative party and Vijay Sinha was elected deputy leader,” the BJP’s in-charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde said after JD(U) president Nitish resigned as Chief Minister.