Samrat Choudhary (born 16 November 1968), also known by his alias Rakesh Kumar, is an Indian politician, who is currently serving as 8th Deputy Chief minister of Bihar under Nitish Kumar along with Vijay Kumar Sinha since 2024. He is a member of the Bihar Legislative Council from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been the party president of BJP Bihar State unit from March 2023 to 25 July 2024. He has also remained Member of Legislative Assembly and a minister in Government of Bihar in Rashtriya Janata Dal government. Chaudhary has been a former Vice President of BJP for the state of Bihar and currently elected for the second term as MLC in 2020 after his first term ended in 2019. In 2014, Samrat planned a split in Rashtriya Janata Dal by defecting thirteen MLAs as splinter group of the party, later joining the BJP. In 2022, he was selected as the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Council. In 2024, he was also made the convener of Group of Ministers on Goods and Service Tax rate rationalisation panel.

Choudhary belongs to Koeri Kushwaha caste and he has been the OBC face of the BJP for a long time. He was born on 16 November 1968 in Lakhanpur village of Munger. His mother's name is Parvati Devi and father's name is Shakuni Choudhary. His ancestral village is in Lakhanpur in Tarapur block of Munger district. Samrat belongs to a family of top politicians. His father, Shakuni Choudhary has been an MLA and MP seven times and mother Parvati Devi has been an MLA from Tarapur constituency. After completing his basic education, he received higher education from Madurai Kamaraj University. His educational qualifications have become a subject of public controversy.

Chaudhary entered active politics in 1990 and on 19 May 1999 he was sworn in as the Minister of Agriculture in the Bihar government. He contested from Parbatta (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in 2000 and 2010 and was elected MLA. In 2010, he was made the Chief Whip of the opposition party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. On 2 June 2014, he was sworn in and took charge as Minister of Urban Development and Housing Department in the Government of Bihar. In 2018, he was made the vice president of Bihar Pradesh in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Before joining BJP he has remained associated with Rashtriya Janata Dal as well as Janata Dal (United). In 2020 Bihar Assembly election he was made star campaigner of National Democratic Alliance, meanwhile he was embroiled in a controversy after giving a controversial statement on Lalu Prasad Yadav's caste equation.

In 2021, Samrat was made Panchayati Raj minister in the expanded cabinet of Nitish Kumar from BJP quota. He has also served as Minister for Urban Development and Housing, Health in 2014 in Jitan Ram Manjhi Ministry and Minister of Metrology and Horticulture in 1999 in Rabri Devi Ministry.

The tenure of Samrat Choudhary as Panchayati Raj minister was a blend of controversies and developmental steps taken by him under the jurisdictions of his ministry. In March 2021, he gained nationwide attention for getting embroiled in a strong argument with the speaker of Bihar Legislative Assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha. The speaker was seeking his reply, on a question that was raised by an MLA, regarding working of his department. Later, he apologized to the speaker for violation of the decorum of the house. The Panchayati Raj Ministry under him took several steps for promoting better organisational structure like recruitment of more staff in sanitation department as well as paving the way for safe disposal of dead carcasses of stray animals. The ministry under him also planned to seek the intra department supports of other ministerial departments.

He has been accused of charges related to undue influence or personation at an election and disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.

In March 2023, Chaudhary was appointed president of Bhartiya Janata Party for the state of Bihar, replacing Sanjay Jaiswal. As per the political analysts, the step was taken by party leadership in order to create strong foundation among the voters of Koeri or the kushwaha caste, which dominated many of the districts of Bihar and were recorded as second largest caste group after the Yadavs in state. After his appointment to the post of state chief of BJP, Rabri Devi commented, "it seems BJP has turned its back from the Banias and that's why they have raised a Mahto to the post of president."

Chaudhary led BJP in Bihar after his appointment as party's state chief. Reportedly, he attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar verbally on various occasions; in May 2023, while he was trying to meet a former five time MLA of BJP Jawahar Prasad, who was incarcerated in prison for his role in Ram Navmi violence in Sasaram, he was stopped by authorities. On 3 May 2023, in a statement given to press, Chaudhary accused Nitish Kumar of promoting criminals and targeting saints; he cited the incident of release of former Member of Parliament and convicted criminal Anand Mohan Singh to support his claim. In 2023, while speaking to a gathering of BJP political workers in Begusarai, union minister Giriraj Singh projected Chaudhary as the chief ministerial candidate of BJP for 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections. In July 2023, Chaudhary, along with Vijay Kumar Sinha and other BJP leaders organised a protest on the question of ten lakh jobs, that was promised by Grand Alliance government of Nitish Kumar and Tejaswi Yadav, to win the election. The protest was led by Chaudhary and Sinha along with BJP workers. However, when the mob reached Dak Bangla Square, Patna Police initiated lathi charge on BJP workers. A worker of BJP from Jahanabad died due to severe injuries, while many other leaders like Janardan Singh Sigriwal were also beaten. In the aftermath of protest, Chaudhary, in his statement, blamed the incumbent government of Nitish Kumar for the death of their worker.