Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday announced that the ongoing polls would be his last brush with electoral politics, prompting many to wonder if the veteran leader was fishing for sympathy in the face of growing discontent.

Campaigning at Dhamdaha in Purnea on the last day of canvassing for the three-phase Assembly elections, JDU chief Nitish said: “Jaan lijiye aaj chunav ka aakhri din hai. Parson chunav hai aur ye mera antim chunav hai. Ant bhala toh sab bhala (Understand that this is the last day of poll campaign. Voting will be held a day after tomorrow and this is my last election. All’s well that ends well).”

Although the chief minister’s comments left some in his party “speechless”, many in the Opposition and the public pointed out that the last time he had contested an election was in 2004. That year, Nitish had won the Lok Sabha election. Since becoming chief minister in 2005, he has not contested a popular election, choosing the Legislative Council route to stay in power as an MLC elected by MLAs from the Lower House. The chief ministerial face of the NDA, Nitish is not contesting this time too.

Those questioning Nitish’s assertion feel it could be a ploy to garner sympathy to sail through what could be a difficult election because of rising discontent over steep unemployment, the pandemic-induced migrant crisis, lack of development, poor health infrastructure, misgovernance and corruption.

Nitish, the NDA’s chief ministerial face, is also facing 15 years of accumulated anti-incumbency and has been cornered by the Opposition RJD and the Congress over the crises on multiple fronts. The senior leader also appears hemmed in by a more powerful and ambitious BJP.

At the rally in Purnea, where Nitish was campaigning for the JDU’s Leshi Singh, the chief minister immediately followed up his “last election” comment with a question to the audience whether they would “now vote for her”.

Nitish also appealed to the crowd to indicate their support by raising their hands.

Voting will be held for 78 seats on Saturday. The Bihar Assembly has 243 seats.

Nitish is now 69 and will be 74 by the time the next Assembly elections are held.

JDU state unit executive president and minister Ashok Choudhary rubbished the insinuations that Nitish had made the claim for the sake of votes. “Nitish Kumar is a serious person and has a political standing. When he says something, it is with full seriousness and thought. Had this been for the sake of votes, he would have made the announcement before the previous phases of elections,” Choudhary reasoned.

Some felt Nitish could be planning to focus on national politics. He had been the Union minister for surface transport, agriculture and railways at different times in former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet.

Some chose not to read too much into Nitish’s claim, given his track record of flip flops.

He had famously said after breaking away from the BJP and forming a Grand Alliance government with the RJD and the Congress in 2015 that he would “prefer turning into dust than shaking hands with the BJP again”. However, he left the alliance and formed a government with the BJP in 2017.

JDU leaders expressed shock art Nitish’s comments.

“I am speechless. I don’t know what to say. This is a topic that was never discussed in party meetings and we do not support such announcements,” a senior JDU leader said on the condition of anonymity.

Many JDU leaders said they would appeal to Nitish for a rethink.

Bihar JDU president Bashistha Narain Singh told The Telegraph that Nitish was a person with a record of “firm decisions and a determination to implement them”.

“He had played a stellar role as a leader of the students' movement of the 1970s, the JP movement, as a parliamentarian, as a Union minister and as the chief minister,” Singh said.

“As the JDU national president, this could be Nitish’s decision, but he is in public life and the suggestions of his political and party colleagues also matter a lot. I do not support his decision. He has given a new dimension to Bihar, changed it with his vision and implementation. He has much more possibilities in him. We cannot allow him to retire. We will appeal to him to take back the decision,” Bashistha, who has been with Nitish since 1974, said.

Another fact is that the JDU has no leader at present who can fill the void if Nitish chooses to retire from politics.

Yogi snubbed

Nitish, while speaking at an election rally in Kishanganj, appeared to snub Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader Yogi Adityanath, saying nobody could throw a person out of the country and that nobody shall be thrown out. Adityanath, at another election rally, had asserted that “ghuspaithiya (intruders or illegal residents)” would be thrown out of the country, reviving fears over the NRC-CAA-NPR citizenship troika.