BJP scores home run in Bihar

In a significant political realignment in Bihar, CM Nitish Kumar has, for the first time in two decades, relinquished the Home Department-handing it over to BJP's Samrat Choudhary.

- Dheeraj Kumar

It marks a decisive assertion of BJP's growing dominance in the state's power structure, following its strongest-ever performance in the recent polls. A day after being sworn in as CM for a record tenth term, Nitish Kumar allocated portfolios to members of his council of ministers.

Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Samrat Choudhary has been entrusted with the Home Department, a move widely interpreted as the BJP's clear bid to control key levers of governance. Until now, Nitish had guarded the Home portfolio since 2005, using it to steer Bihar's law-andorder machinery-a domain he was long credited with reforming after the "Jungle Raj❞ era under the Lalu-Rabri government.