Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who is the Chief Minister of Bihar, a state in eastern India, since 2017. Previously he served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 2005 to 2014 and from 2015 to 2017; he also served as a minister in the Union Government of India. He belongs to the Janata Dal (United) political party. He endeared himself to Biharis, used to low expectations from previous regimes, when as Chief Minister, his socialist policies bore dividends in appointing more than 100,000 school teachers, ensuring that doctors worked in primary health centers, electrification of villages, paving of roads, cutting female illiteracy by half, turning around a lawless state by cracking down on criminals and doubling the income of the average Bihari. The cumulative growth rate of GDP of Bihar during his tenure as CM is highest as compared to other states for that period.

Nitish Kumar
22nd Chief Minister of Bihar
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2017
Deputy	Sushil Kumar Modi
Preceded by	Himself
In office 22 February 2015 – 26 July 2017
Deputy	Tejashwi Yadav from 20 November 2015
Preceded by	Jitan Ram Manjhi
In office 24 November 2005 – 17 May 2014
Deputy	Sushil Kumar Modi (up to 16 June 2013)
Preceded by	Rabri Devi
Succeeded by	Jitan Ram Manjhi
Minister of Railways
In office 3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000
Preceded by	Mamata Banerjee
Succeeded by	Lalu Prasad Yadav
In office 20 March 2001 – 21 May 2004
Preceded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
Succeeded by	Ram Naik
Minister of Agriculture
In office 19 March 1998 – 5 August 1999
In office 27 May 2000 – 21 July 2001
Minister of Surface Transport
In office 22 November 1999 – 3 March 2000
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
In office 13 October 1999 – 22 November 1999
In office 14 April 1998 – 5 August 1999
Personal details
Born	(1951-03-01) 1 March 1951 (age 67) Bakhtiarpur, Bihar, India
Political party	Janata Dal (United)
Spouse(s)	Manju Kumari Sinha
Children	1
Alma mater	National Institute of Technology, Patna (NIT PATNA)
Profession	Politician
Nickname(s)	Vikash Purush (Development Man) Mr. Clean Lord Turnaround

On 17 May 2014 he resigned, owning responsibility for his party's poor performance in the 2014 general elections, and was succeeded by Jitan Ram Manjhi. However, he returned to office in February 2015 following a political crisis in Bihar and won the state elections of November 2015. He was elected as the national president of his party on 10 April 2016. In the upcoming election of 2019 many politicians including Lalu Yadav, Tejaswi Yadav and others had proposed him for the Prime Ministerial post in India although he has denied such aspirations. He resigned again on 26 July 2017 as Chief Minister of Bihar over differences with the coalition partner RJD due to the naming of Tejaswi Yadav, the deputy CM and Lalu's son in an FIR by the CBI. Hours later, he joined the NDA coalition which had thus far been the opposition, and secured a majority in the assembly, taking the Chief Ministership once again on the very next day.