Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary plays on irony, credits Lalu Prasad Yadav for his elevation

Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Friday said that Lalu Yadav’s actions against him during his political career were responsible for his elevation to the chief ministerial post, even as the NDA government headed into a floor test with a comfortable majority in the 243-member state assembly.

The floor test was necessitated after Choudhary took oath following Nitish Kumar’s resignation from the chief ministerial post to move to the Rajya Sabha as an MP. The NDA holds 202 seats in the House against a combined opposition tally of 35. Choudhary comfortably won the trust vote on Friday, reaffirming NDA’s unity and completing the political transition in the state.

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Addressing the Vidhan Sabha in remarks carried on Bihar Vidhan Sabha TV, Choudhary drew on three decades of Bihar’s political churn to make his point – but not before Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav landed the first blow. Tejashwi thanked Choudhary for completing the transition from an “elected Chief Minister” to a “selected Chief Minister,” and said he was delighted that “a graduate of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s pathshala” had taken the top post. “A government needs stability for development work. But Bihar is a unique state, where this is the fifth government formed in five years,” Tejashwi said.

Choudhary’s response was direct. “The power is not anyone’s inheritance,” he said. “The CM’s post is the blessing of 14 crore Biharis. I have the blessing of Nitish Kumar, PM Modi, Nitin Nabin, Chirag Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha, Jitan Ram Manjhi.” He then turned the tables on the Yadav family’s political legacy. “Lalu Yadav put me in jail. If Nitish Kumar hadn’t been there, would Lalu Yadav have been the Chief Minister? Nitish Kumar also made Lalu Yadav the Chief Minister. If Lalu Yadav hadn’t perpetrated atrocities on my political career, I wouldn’t have become the Chief Minister of Bihar.”

#WATCH | Patna, Bihar | Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary says, “… The power is not anyone’s inheritance… Lalu Yadav put me in jail… If Nitish Kumar hadn’t been there, would Lalu Yadav have been the Chief Minister? Nitish Kumar also made Lalu Yadav the Chief Minister… If… pic.twitter.com/NRXa6kHjNS

— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2026

Of the 202 NDA MLAs, BJP accounts for 89 and JD(U) for 85. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has 19, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) five and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha four. Against them, the INDIA bloc has 35 MLAs in total — 25 RJD, six Congress, two CPI(ML), one CPM and one IIP. AIMIM has five MLAs and the Bahujan Samaj Party one.

Choudhary is Bihar’s first BJP chief minister. He comes from a family with deep roots in Bihar politics. His father, Shakuni Choudhary, was a six-time MLA from the Tarapur constituency. His mother, Parvati Devi, won the same seat in 1998 on a Samta Party ticket. He was appointed the party’s Bihar state president in 2023 and served as deputy chief minister from 2024 before taking the top post.