NITISH'S NEXT GEN

At 73, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar shows no signs of slowing down—witness only the gymnastic ability he exhibited ahead of the Lok Sabha election, daring to make a political leap few would have attempted.

- Amitabh Srivastava

Contrary to bazaar talk over the past season, he is pretty much in the thick of action, and evidently loving it. But a couple of top-level appointments he made over the last month indicate he may have plans for the future of his party—the Janata Dal (United)—beyond his own active helmsmanship. The moves attain significance against the backdrop of the Lok Sabha election results, which had breathed new life into the JD(U)’s political fortunes and entrenched Nitish’s own status as the prime playmaker on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) side in Bihar. The two new faces he has elevated now show his eagerness to sustain the momentum into the next assembly poll—and perchance to sustain his political legacy well beyond that. Like a lot of regional parties, the JD(U) has not been particularly rich in a well-defined second line of leadership, and signs are that Nitish has found some time to attend to such thoughts in the autumn of his own political career.