India

NITISH KUMAR

Nitish Kumar

Chief minister of Bihar and former minister of transport and agriculture. Heads an alliance of the Janata Dal United party and the BJP, which holds a clear majority in the state. His victory in November 2005 ended 15 years of rule by the charismatic Laloo Prasad Yadav, leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, a key Congress ally.

Elected on pledge to restore law and order in India’s most crime-ridden state. Recently led a “development march” across Bihar, during which a cabinet meeting was held in a village in what critics dismissed as a pre-election stunt.