Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was elected Janata Dal (United) president at the party’s national executive meeting here on Friday. Kumar replaced Lalan Singh who proposed the chief minister’s name for the post, party leader K C Tyagi told reporters.
The national council meeting of the party, scheduled to be held later in the day, is likely to ratify decisions taken in the executive meeting.
The move comes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. Though speculations were rife that Singh would make way for Nitish Kumar, who worked for the formation of the opposition coalition, party sources had vehemently denied it until Friday.
Sources told PTI that most key leaders within the party felt that Kumar, being its most prominent face, should take charge of the organisation at this crucial time. Singh also faced flak from many quarters for his leadership style.
Earlier, Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary’s name was doing rounds for the post, but he had denied all reports of leadership change. However, just before the meeting, Choudhary shifted his tone, stating leadership change would be considered.
“There will national executive meeting of JD(U). If they accept our proposal, then Nitish Kumar will be the party president. Lalan Singh told CM Nitish Kumar that he will be busy with elections, so he wants to hand over the post of party president to him and Nitish Kumar accepted it,” Choudhary told
