"Vikas key mazboot kadam, Aasha ki swarnim kiran, Nitish Kumarji key saath aagey bado (Nitish Kumar, the sure step of development and the golden ray of hope, Let us move forward with him)." In this way one campaign poster of the NDA`s Bihar unit describes the Janata Dal (U) leader. The NDA campaign in the State rotates also around Mr. Kumar`s image as "Vikas Purush" (development man).

Nitish Kumar is the current Chief Minister of the Indian State of Bihar. He also holds the top most position in the Janata Dal (United) Party. On 1st March 1951, Nitish Kumar was born to Late Shri Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Late Smt. Parmeshwari Devi at Bakhtiarpur, District - Patna, State - Bihar. Late Manju Kumari Sinha was his wife to whom he has one son. Nitish Kumar graduated from Bihar College of Engineering, now NIT Patna, with a Bachelor`s degree in Civil Engineering. His father was a freedom fighter and that why he had the opportunity to enjoy close proximity to the great Gandhian Bihar Bibhuti Anugrah Narayan Singh considered as one of the founders of modern Bihar.

Between 1974 and 1977, he took part in the movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan and was very close to Satyandra Narayan Sinha, who was a prominent leader of that time. In the year 1985, he was first elected to the Bihar legislative assembly. In 1987, he held the post of the president of the Yuva Lok Dal. After two years in 1989, he became the Secretary-General of the Janata Dal in Bihar. Nitish Kumar was also being elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in that particular year.

He became the Union Minister of State for Agriculture in 1990. He became General Secretary of the Janata Dal at the national level in 1991 after his re-election to the Lok Sabha. He also became the Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in Parliament in the same year. Between 1989 and 2004, he delineated Barh parliamentary constituency (Bihar) in the Lok Sabha. In 1998-99, he concisely served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways and Surface Transport and then as the Minister for Agriculture. In August 1999, following the railway accident at Gaisal in North East India he resigned.

In 2000, he was made the Chief Minister of Bihar but only for seven days. He rejoined the Union Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture later that year. From 2001 to May 2004, in the NDA government of Atal Behari Vajpayee, he held the post of the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways. He contended elections from two constituencies, Barh and Nalanda in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. He lost from his traditional constituency, Barh but was elected from Nalanda. He was the leader of the Janata Dal (United) Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.

The National Democratic Alliance led to a victory in the Bihar Assembly elections in November 2005, by him. In the year 2005 the 15-year rule of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal came to an end. On 24 November 2005, he was sworn in as chief minister of Bihar. As the Chief Minister of Bihar he also holds the Chairmanship of a salient business school of Bihar, the L.N. Mishra Institute of Economic Development and Social Change. As a member of Indian Delegation to the World Youth Festival in 1978, he has visited Havana (Cuba) and Moscow (Russia). He has visited Australia and France as a Member of Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the IPU Conference. As the Agriculture Minister, he has visited Japan to attend Regional Conference of FAO in Yokohama. As the Railway Minister, he has visited France, Switzerland and UK.

A man of utmost integrity, intelligence, commitment and very hardworking, Nitish Kumar is a man of principle. He played an instrumental role in moving the Raliway Headquarter of Railway from Cacutta to Hajipur of one of divisions against all odds.