New 'Choudhary' of Magadh: Samarat's 'muretha' vow comes full circle with Nitish's exit

Samrat Choudhary’s journey to the top has hardly followed a conventional BJP path. Unlike many leaders nurtured within the Sangh ecosystem, he comes from outside that fold. His father, veteran politician Shakuni Choudhary, was a founding member of the Samata Party and a contemporary of both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav. Samrat himself began in the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the 1990s and entered government early, serving as a minister under Rabri Devi.

By RAJEEV SINGH