Decisions that Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary had to reverse

After 100 days as the Chief Minister of Bihar, Samrat Choudhary claimed to have taken historic decisions aimed at public interest, good governance and overall development of Bihar. File. | Photo Credit: X/@samrat4bjp via ANI

It has been almost five months since Samrat Choudhary took over as Chief Minister, replacing Nitish Kumar on 15 April 2026. His government took several policy decisions. However, in this very short time frame, he generally reversed and modified up to half a dozen decisions following criticism from the opposition or public protests.

The latest decision the government had to withdraw was the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE-4), which was earlier announced to be conducted in two phases consisting of the Preliminary Test (PT) and the Main Examination. The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) announced this in August 2026. However, after a massive protest by students and opposition leaders, the government agreed to hold the exam in a single phase. It was considered one of the major victories of the students and the opposition.

Mr. Choudhary reversed a decision taken in his first cabinet meeting on April 22, where the state cabinet agreed to build 11 new satellite villages and banned sales, purchases, transfers and construction in the areas until a master plan was drawn up.

Farmers and landowners protested the decision, saying the projects would threaten farmland and the livelihoods of farming communities. The Samyukt Kishan Morcha (SKM) called for an agitation in July. After a vehement protest, the government lifted restrictions on the purchase, sale and transfer of land on August 12. However, farmers are still against the plan and are demanding a withdrawal.

Not only this, the state government has taken another U-turn since its decision to collect withholding tax on pucca and semi-pucca houses in villages and towns. Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Sudhakar Singh strongly opposed the Bihar government’s decision to allow panchayats to collect taxes and fees, saying it will put additional burden on the poor and small businesses.

Mr. Singh alleged that while crores of rupees worth of bank loans owed by big industrialists were being written off, the government was going to impose new taxes on the rural poor.

Earlier, the Bihar Cabinet allowed Gram Panchayats to levy and collect taxes. The Panchayati Raj department is in the process of amending the provisions for collecting fees from villagers.

The student credit card scheme, initially launched by former chief minister Nitish Kumar at ₹4,000, has been reduced to ₹2,00,000 by the Samrat Chaudhary-led government. However, following opposition from students and the opposition, Mr. Chaudhary reversed the decision on August 19 and restored the ₹4 lakh limit approved by the government.

The state cabinet also approved rules for collecting user fees (tolls) from all categories of vehicles on state highways and state bridges. Following mounting pressure from the opposition and the general public on the newly announced road user charge framework, Mr Choudhary reversed the decision within 24 hours, saying that there would be no user charge for private vehicles and that the charge would only apply to commercial vehicles.

A decision was taken to temporarily merge Mr. Choudhary’s residence at 5 Desh Ratna Marg with the Chief Minister’s residence. After facing criticism, he clarified the temporary nature of the merger. Later, 5 Desh Ratna Marg was allotted to Health Minister Nishant Kumar.

Political expert Dr. Asked about the possible reasons behind such government decisions, Sanjay Kumar of Patna told The Hindu that the reversal of decisions is happening because many decisions have been taken in haste without thinking about their consequences. He claimed that such things were rarely seen during the Nitish Kumar government.

“The government wants to do things very fast, the current CM is trying to draw a bigger line than his predecessor in terms of development. It is also true that the government sometimes makes major statements to be in the limelight, thereby also gauging the public and the opposition’s response. Sometimes the government gets applause, but sometimes it also faces opposition,” Kumar said.

As Mr. Choudhary completed 100 days as the Chief Minister of Bihar on 23 July 2026, he claimed to have taken many historic decisions and pointed out that every decision taken during the 100 days was dedicated to public interest, good governance and all-round development of Bihar.

Published – 11 Sep 2026 11:42 IST