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Nitish Kumar’s resignation leaves more than a political vacuum. Bihar women need to be paid

The Rajya Sabha is Kumar’s way of stepping outside the circuit through which Bihar’s women could have held him to the Rs 2 lakh promise.

Nitish Kumar resigned from the Legislative Assembly after his Rajya Sabha confirmation, putting what appears to be a very early end to his latest tenure as the Chief Minister of Bihar. Among the many questions that this move raises, none is perhaps more consequential than the fate of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana (popularly known as the Dus Hazari scheme), which was rolled out in the run-up to the 2025 state Assembly elections. 

The scheme promised, “along with initial transfer of Rs. 10,000 each, scope of additional financial support of up to Rs. 2 lakh subsequently.” Women voters’ turnout in the November elections hit a record high of 71.6 per cent. Recent estimates indicate that around 1.62 crore women received Rs. 10,000 through the scheme before they reached the polling booth. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was re-elected with 202 out of 243 seats.

The Janata Dal (United) (JDU) has been quick to point out that the BJP’s tactic of springing surprise appointments—seen in the selections of Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Bhajanlal Sharma—will not work in Bihar. However, this observation only muddies the waters. The transfer had been delivered. The guarantor of the promise has left. What happens next?

Politics of succession 

The coalition arithmetic that produced this outcome adds to our understanding of what’s to come. JD(U) went from 43 seats in 2020 to 85 in 2025. This is a recovery that appears, at first glance, to signal organisational consolidation, or even renewed voter confidence. But that collapse in 2020 was partly Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)’s (LsJP(RV)) Chirag Paswan’s doing. His campaign ran on “Modi se bair nahi, Nitish teri khair nahi,” and it did so with precision, fielding 143 candidates almost exclusively against JD(U). 

The party won one seat, but it did bleed JD(U). By 2025, however, the terrain had shifted. With LJP(RV) contesting on the same side for the first time – and winning 19 of 29 seats – JD(U)’s recovery was built, quite substantially,........

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