Nitish Kumar's Delhi Visit: A Strategic Move to Cement NDA's Grip on Bihar
In a significant development, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on December 22, 2025. Kumar, who arrived in the national capital on Sunday, December 21, and returned to Patna in the evening, was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary (BJP) and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JD(U)) during the meetings.
The meetings, which lasted around 30 minutes with Modi and 20-60 minutes with Shah, marked a crucial step in strengthening the Centre-state coordination and development agenda for Bihar. Kumar's visit was his first to Delhi since being sworn in for a record 10th term as Chief Minister on November 20, 2025, following the NDA's landslide victory in the Bihar Assembly elections.
The 2025 polls saw the NDA secure a historic 202 seats out of 243 in the Bihar Assembly, with the BJP bagging 89 seats, JD(U) securing 85, and LJP(RV) and HAM(S) winning 19 and 5 seats respectively. Kumar's visit to Delhi comes at a time when the state is eagerly awaiting the implementation of the NDA's development promises, including industrialization, investments, and welfare schemes like Nitin Nabin.
Sources indicate that the meetings discussed Bihar's roadmap for development, election promises, industrialization, investments, and Centre-state coordination. The NDA is expected to sweep all 5 Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar, with the Legislative Council polls and state cabinet expansion also on the agenda. While the meetings were portrayed as courtesy visits, they have significant implications for Bihar's development and NDA's grip on the state.
Nitish Kumar's visit to Delhi is also seen as a strategic move to cement the NDA's unity in Bihar, a key state, ahead of national dynamics. The Chief Minister has a history of alliance shifts, having allied with the BJP pre-2022, briefly with the RJD in 2022-2024, and rejoined the NDA in January 2024 ahead of the 2025 polls. The unified NDA manifesto for the 2025 polls raised expectations for Centre-state synergy on development, and Kumar's visit to Delhi signals a stronger commitment to this agenda.
For the people of Bihar, the meetings signal a stronger Centre-state coordination for development funding, fulfilling NDA manifesto promises on industrialization, investments, and welfare. The potential cabinet expansion post-Makar Sankranti could stabilize the NDA government and include more allies. The NDA is likely to secure all 5 Rajya Sabha seats, bolstering its national influence. Enhanced Union support for state schemes, including upgrades to Nitin Nabin, could accelerate infrastructure and job creation, but depends on follow-up meetings pledged by JD(U).
As Bihar looks forward to a new era of development, Nitish Kumar's visit to Delhi has set the stage for a stronger Centre-state partnership. The NDA's dominance in Bihar, with all 5 Rajya Sabha seats expected to be secured, signals a significant shift in the state's politics. With the NDA poised to sweep the Rajya Sabha polls, the stage is set for a new chapter in Bihar's development, and Nitish Kumar's visit to Delhi has marked the beginning of this journey.
📰 Source: Hindustan Times - States
