History It has become a new beginning in the political history of Bihar with the swearing in of Samrat Choudhary as the 24th Chief Minister of the state on Wednesday becoming the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to hold the top office in the history of the state. This change of government in eastern India concludes with the oath taking ceremony which reforms a long-standing Nitish Kumar government under a BJP-led NDA government, in Patna, at Lok Bhawan. Governor Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) swore in Choudhary, and two preliminary ministers of the Janata Dal (United) into office and secrecy in the presence of high national leaders and a packed legislature, the NDA.
BJP historic turnaround in Bihar.
Bihar was a bastion of regional Dravidian-style politics, with JD(U) and opposition parties controlling the executive, over decades. It was the first occasion when the state government was run by the BJP although it was very strong in the Lok Sabha. This moment is brought to an end by the promotion of Choudhary and the saffron party gets a foothold in the power-broker state of Hindi-heartland, which gives the national BJP a foothold in the state. Analysts consider this a strategic NDA alliance merger and the recent transfer of Nitish Kumar to the Rajya sabha has been regarded as a prelude to the BJP acquiring its clutches on the chief-ministers seat.
New CM, old deputy
It is not the first time that Choudhary is involved in Bihar politics since he is 57 years old. He entered the Legislative Assembly at Tarapur as a member since 2025, was the Deputy Chief Minister in the government of Nitish Kumar between 2024 and 2026, which provided him access to the state bureaucracy and access to most policy files. His election as BJP legislative-party leader in a meeting of the NDA held at Patna was a long awaited move as the party leaders are portraying him to be a quiet, yet an effective administrator who will be in a position to hold the alliance together and focus on serving the people rather than on theatrics.
Taking oath on the first day and signals of the cabinet.
The ceremony and politics even dominated the swearing-in ceremony. The pan-Indian attention of a BJP-governed Bihar was recognized by NDA allies, JD(U) and other senior BJP leaders of New Delhi and other states who were present at the event. Along with Choudhary, two ministers of the JD(U) were also included in the first cabinet, Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav, a pointer that the alliance will continue to seek to place in the first cabinet, those popular names of Bihar, especially in law and order, agriculture and rural development.
The new government is faced with difficulties.
Despite this celebratory spirit, there are problems that Choudhary has to contend with that face his new government. The issues that Bihar has to contend with, and which will trouble the NDA in making any tangible changes include youth unemployment, absence of infrastructure, and frequent power and water cuts. With a 2026 deadline which is still a blank sheet and the JD(U) still minding its own backyard, Choudhary will have to balance the party interests, coalition politics and citizens demands should he be interested in turning what to date has been an empty symbolic first BJP CM moment, a performance based government.
