Vijay Kumar Choudhary took oath as Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister on Wednesday, a day after Nitish Kumar stepped down as Chief Minister.
Choudhary, 68, has been around Bihar politics for over four decades. He began in the 1980s, leaving a job at the State Bank of India to enter public life. His early years were with the Congress, where he rose to become an MLA and later legislature party leader before switching to JD(U) as equations in the state changed.
Since 2005, he has held on to Sarairanjan in Samastipur, election after election. Not flashy, not particularly loud, but steady. His 2025 affidavit shows assets of ₹3.2 crore, no liabilities, an annual income of ₹10.9 lakh, and no criminal cases.
A steady hand, not a headline name
A postgraduate by qualification, Choudhary has largely stayed away from high-decibel politics. Inside JD(U), he is seen as reliable, someone who can be trusted with both government work and party matters.
He has handled a range of ministries over the years, such as Finance, Education, Water Resources, Parliamentary Affairs, among others. None of those tenures made big headlines, but they kept him relevant within the system.
He is also counted among the party’s key Bhumihar faces, something that carries weight in Bihar’s social and political arithmetic.
Speaker years and the test of patience
Between 2015 and 2020, he served as Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, which was not the easiest job in those years.
The House saw frequent disruptions and sharp exchanges. Choudhary’s role, more often than not, was to keep things from slipping completely out of control. He let debates run, even when noisy, but ensured proceedings didn’t collapse.
It wasn’t always smooth, but it held.
Around when things started shifting
In April 2026, when things began moving quickly, and Nitish Kumar stepped down, Choudhary was among those putting the party’s position across and helping manage the shift.
He has been part of Nitish Kumar’s inner circle for years and has stayed through multiple political turns.
There’s also the social angle. Choudhary’s presence reinforces JD(U)’s outreach among Bhumihar voters.
For someone who left a bank job in the 1980s to enter politics, the rise hasn’t been dramatic. It’s been slow, steady, and largely without noise. For now, it has taken him to the Deputy Chief Minister’s chair.