Samrat Choudhary is the new Bihar chief minister, becoming the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to occupy the top post in the state.

The BJP, the single largest party in the 243-strong assembly with 89 MLAs, elected Choudhary as its legislature party leader soon after Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U) and became a Rajya Sabha MP last week, submitted his resignation to Governor Syed Ata Hasnain as the chief minister.

Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whom the BJP parliamentary board named central observer for the legislature party leader's election, told reporters, “Samrat Chaudhary was unanimously elected as the BJP’s legislature party leader.” Choudhary, BJP MLA from Tarapur, will be the next CM of Bihar after his election as the NDA legislature party.

Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said he has submitted his resignation from the post to Governor Syed Ata Hasnain.

Nitish, the longest-serving CM of Bihar, made this announcement on X after he met the governor at Lok Bhavan here.

Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, JD(U)’s national working president Sanjay Jha, and state minister Vijay Choudhary, Kumar reached Lok Bhavan and submitted his resignation.

"I have done a lot of work for the people of Bihar. Recently, I decided to leave the post of chief minister…and therefore, after today's cabinet meeting, I met the governor and submitted my resignation to him," Kumar said.

The 75-year-old JD(U) chief became a Rajya Sabha MP last week.

"Now the new government will look after the work in Bihar. The new government will have my full cooperation and guidance," Kumar wrote on the social media post.

He further thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this, saying “Bihar will develop even faster and join the top states of the country.” He said the state would make an important contribution to the progress of the nation.

Meanwhile, JD(U) leaders, who are trying to come to terms with the imminent loss of political clout, hope that despite stepping down as chief minister, Kumar will continue to pull some strings.

"Nitish Kumar ji will spend most of his time in Bihar. He will be in Delhi only while the Parliament session is on. The new government will be formed with his consent, and it will work under his guidance," said JD(U) leader Zama Khan, the minister for minority affairs in the outgoing state government.

He also said that the party hoped that Kumar's only son Nishant, who had joined the JD(U) a month ago, would be considered for "an important role" in the new government.