The Bihar elections will test the mettle of four key players in the state’s electoral landscape, including the oldest warhorse — Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The elections will be crucial for RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the chosen political inheritor of former CM Lalu Yadav; Chirag Paswan, the young Dalit leader out to consolidate late father Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy; and Prashant Kishor, the poll strategist whose Jan Suraaj Party is making its electoral debut.

For Nitish Kumar (74), the November elections may well be the last electoral innings. Long famed as “sushasan babu”, Nitish is, for the first time, facing accusations of inadequate governance with law and order a growing concern.

But Nitish’s indispensability to the ruling NDA equation can’t be overstated despite “poor health”. Th

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