Nitish Kumar
 | ||
| Born | March 1, 1951 Bakhtiarpur, Patna | |
|---|---|---|
| Office | Chief Minister of Bihar | |
| Successor | Incumbent | |
| Political party | Janata Dal (United) | |
| Spouse | Smt. Manju Kumari Sinha | |
| Children | One son | |
As of June 18, 2006 | ||
Nitiś Kumār (Hindi: नितीश कुमार) (born March 1, 1951, Bakhtiarpur, Bihar, India) is the Chief Minister of the north Indian state of Bihar. He is one of the leaders of Janata Dal (United) party.
Political career
Kumar graduated from Bihar College of Engineering with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering. He was involved in the JP Movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan between 1974 and 1977 and was personally close to the then prominent leader Satyendra Narayan Sinha the former Chief Minister Of Bihar, known as "Chhote Saheb", who led the Janata Party in Bihar during the 1977 movement.
He was first elected to the Bihar legislative assembly in 1985. In 1987, he became the president of the Yuva Lok Dal. In 1989, he became the Secretary-General of the Janata Dal in Bihar. He was also elected to the 9th Lok Sabha that year.In 1990, he became the Union Minister of State for Agriculture. In 1991, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha and became General Secretary of the Janata Dal at the national level and Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in Parliament. He represented Barh parliamentary constituency (Bihar) in the Lok Sabha between 1989 and 2004. He briefly served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways and Surface Transport and then as the Minister for Agriculture in 1998-99. In August 1999, he resigned following the railway accident at Gaisal in North East India.
In 2000, he was made the Chief Minister of Bihar but had to resign in 7 days. Later that year, he rejoined the Union Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture. From 2001 to May 2004, he served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways in the NDA government of Atal Behari Vajpayee. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he contested elections from two constituencies, Barh and Nalanda. He was elected from Nalanda but lost from his traditional constituency, Barh. He was the leader of the Janata Dal (United) Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.
In November 2005, he led theNational Democratic Alliance to a victory in the Bihar Assembly elections bringing to an end the 15-year rule of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal in the state. He was sworn in as chief minister of Bihar on November 24, 2005. As the Chief Minister of Bihar he also holds the Chairmanship of the L.N. Mishra Institute of Economic Development and Social Change a prominent business school of Bihar.
| Preceded by: | Chief Ministersof Bihar | Succeeded by: |
External links
Categories
1951 births | Living people | Bihar politics | Indian politicians | Chief Ministers of Bihar | Incumbent Indian Chief Ministers