Nitish Kumar

Nitish Kumar is going to be sworn in for his third term as Chief Minister of Bihar. He along with Laloo has dealt a huge blow to the Modi-Amit Shah juggernaut in Bihar elections.

With this victory his stature has increased immeasurably in national politics.

He is a consummate politician having been in politics for the last 40 years. At the same time he is so unlike the typical political leader. He is soft spoken, almost self effacing who lets his work speak for itself. He is like a breath of fresh air in today's political environment in India. He has resigned many times previously on matters of principle. In fact his last resignation in 2014 after the debacle in Lok Sabha elections from the Chief Ministership of Bihar almost became his undoing. He made a virtually unknown Jitan Ram Manjhi as the CM who turned against him and later joined the BJP.

He has a clean image. No allegations of corruption taint him. He has also stayed away from dynastic politics and nepotism, a rarity in India. He is an engineer by profession. He is extremely articulate and puts his point forward in a very clear and logical manner. He does this in a manner which is non-confrontational and actually endears him to others. There is certain civility about him which is so lacking among other politicians. He has credibility as well.

In this election, owning to Nitish's clean and positive image, BJP found it very difficult to target him.

In the last 10 years he has done some really good work in Bihar. Electricity has now reached the remotest village of Bihar. Even his worst critics have to admit that he has put Bihar on the road to progress.

In today's political landscape in India, he appears to have all qualities to lead the country. Hopefully in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he is projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate.