Amid the Bihar leaders who rose out of the Jayaprakash Narayan movement, Nitish Kumar didn’t have the charisma of Lalu Prasad, the vote base of Ram Vilas Paswan, or the party organisation of the late Sushil Kumar Modi. On Friday, again defying the assumptions about him, the JD(U) supremo led his party to a spectacular win – nearly doubling its seats from 2020 – and ensuring that his 20-year unbroken run, making him Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister , will continue.

The run-up to the Assembly elections was marked by chatter about Nitish’s future. His government’s initiatives such as free electricity up to 125 units and a Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, under which Rs 10,000 was deposited into the accounts of more than 1 crore women as the first instalment, were seen as signs of d

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