From student leader to 7-time Bihar CM: Nitish Kumar's political journey in pics

Nitish Kumar first became the Chief Minister of Bihar in 2000 at the behest of the Vajpayee Government in the Center. And since then, he has served in that role for a total six times. His government is known for initiating bicycle and meal programs. Giving bicycles to girls who stayed in school resulted in the state getting a huge number of girls into schools and a reduction in school dropout rates.

In 2005, Nitish contested the Bihar assembly election with the BJP and formed an absolute majority government. He was sworn in as the Bihar CM November 24, 2005 for the second time and remained on the post until November 24, 2010, completing his term.

In 2010, Nitish's JD(U) party swept back to power along with its then allies, the BJP, and he again became Chief Minister. The alliance won 206 seats, while the RJD won 22. For the first time, electorates witnessed high turnout of women and young voters, while this was declared as the fairest election in Bihar, with no bloodshed or poll violence.

In May 2014, Nitish submitted his resignation to the Bihar Governor, a day after his party fared poorly in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning just 2 seats against 20 seats in the previous election. Nitish resigned, taking moral responsibility for his party's poor performance in the election, and Jitan Ram Manjhi took over.

In February 2015, he again became Bihar CM, on the backdrop of the upcoming 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, considered to be his toughest election to date. His JD(U), along with RJD and Congress, formed the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) to counter the BJP in Bihar. The Grand Alliance won the Assembly election by a margin of 178 over the BJP and Nitish was sworn in as Chief Minister on 20 November 2015 for a record fifth time. 

When corruption charges were leveled against Tejashwi Yadav, the Deputy Chief Minister, Kumar asked for him to resign from the cabinet. The RJD refused to do so, and therefore Kumar resigned on 26 July 2017, thus ending the Grand Alliance. He joined the principal opposition, the NDA, and came back to power within a few hours.

Born in Bihar's Bakhtiyarpur, Nitish earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Bihar College of Engineering in 1972. He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, half-heartedly and later quit the job to join politics. During his early years as a politician, he was associated with the likes of Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, S. N. Sinha, Karpuri Thakur and V. P. Singh. He participated in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement between 1974 and 1977 and joined the Janata party headed by Satyendra Narain Sinha.