Speculation rife as CM Nitish's son Nishant to hold public meeting in Patna today

Fresh speculations of Nishant Kumar, son of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, joining politics have been triggered after a public meeting of the scion was scheduled for Sunday evening, August 10.

Posters announcing ‘Nishant Samvad’, scheduled for the day, were seen in the vicinity of the office of the Janata Dal United or JD(U), headed by the state’s longest-serving chief minister, in Patna.

Nishant, 50, the only child of the JD(U) supremo, has been making no secret of the wish that his father enjoys another term in office, while ducking queries about his own entry into politics.

Also read: Bihar's poll 'VIP': Will Mukesh Sahani switch sides again to join NDA?

According to the poster, the son of the chief minister would “share his thoughts on the public welfare schemes launched by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar”.

Bihar's other young faces ready to welcome Nishant

Interestingly, other young leaders from Bihar, such as Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav and Union minister Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), despite being on different sides of the ideological spectrum, have said that they would “welcome” the political entry of the reclusive son of the Chief Minister if he took the “personal” decision.

Also read: Can freebies help Nitish govt tide over anti-incumbency, fight SIR infamy?

However, many old-timers have been sceptical that Nitish, who is known for shunning “dynasty politics”, would let his son enter public life, at least until he hung his own boots.

Speculations about Nishant’s entry into politics had been intense around Holi this year when he had been waxing eloquent about his administrator father’s achievements and urging the people to vote him to power once again.

Nishant JD(U)'s 'new hope'?

Posters declaring Nishant as JD(U)’s “new hope” had been dotting Patna, and a section of the media suggested that plans were afoot to field him in the upcoming Assembly polls from Harnaut, the seat that Nitish represented many decades ago.

Also read: Complaint filed against Tejashwi Yadav over two voter IDs

Tejashwi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, has of late been trying to fish in troubled waters of the JD(U) with the claim that Nishant's political entry was being stymied by a cabal that was allegedly pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and did not want the party, which depends heavily on the charisma of its supremo, to enjoy any long-term prospects.

(With agency inputs)