Nishant Kumar, son of former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, on Sunday embarked on a “Sadbhav Yatra”, an ambitious outreach seen as an attempt to position himself as his father’s political heir and consolidate control of the Janata Dal United.

Nishant sought his father’s blessings by touching his feet before setting out from the party headquarters in a decorated van amid enthusiastic support from leaders and workers. He left for West Champaran, a region associated with Mahatma Gandhi, from where Nishant is scheduled to formally launch his maiden political yatra. The yatra is scheduled to be held over four months with breaks to cover every corner of Bihar.

Nishant, a reclusive engineer who joined the party only in March, had long stayed away from politics, appearing constrained by his father’s political opposition to the dynastic practices of the rival RJD.

However, with Nitish stepping down as chief minister and moving to the Rajya Sabha, JDU leaders and workers have increasingly backed Nishant’s projection as his political successor, marking a shift in the party’s leadership trajectory. Nitish hasalso green-signalled his son’s assent.

“My first political journey in the form of a Sadbhav Yatra begins today. My aim is to spread the message of harmony and development championed by my father and to bring all sections of society together,” Nishant told reporters.

West Champaran had been the starting point of several political yatras undertaken by Nitish during his two-decade tenure as chief minister.

“Champaran is the land from where Mahatma Gandhi launched his Satyagraha in 1917. My father, too, began all his yatras from here,” Nishant said, adding that he would use the outreach programme to engage with JDU workers and leaders and gather feedback to strengthen the organisation.

The yatra comes at a time when the BJP has assumed a dominant role in Bihar following the elevation of Samrat Choudhary as chief minister of the NDA government. Once a junior partner to the JDU, the BJP is now the dominant force. This has caused many in the JDU to worry that the party could get increasingly sidelined.

With Nitish seen to be in the twilight of his career, sections within the JDU fear an existential challenge ahead. Nishant was earlier tipped for the deputy chief minister’s post in the BJP-led government but he chose to step aside, focusing instead on organisational consolidation and gradually asserting his leadership within the party.

The naming of the outreach as Sadbhav Yatra, JDU leaders said, is intended to send a calibrated message to the BJP. Despite his long-standing alliance with the BJP, Nitish had consistently placed communal harmony at the centre of his politics, a legacy the JDUis keen to preserve. As chief minister, Nitish rolled out several welfare measures for Muslims, helping the party to win the trust of the minority community.

“The JDU wants the Nitish Kumar model of governance to continue in Bihar. Nishant has visited dargahs and participated in iftars to underline his political priorities. The BJP should take note,” a senior JDU leader said.

After assuming office last month, chief minister Choudhary had stressed continuity, reiterating that Nitish’s governance template of zero tolerance towards crime, corruption and communalism would remain intact.