Nitish replaces Lalan Singh as JD(U) chief

New Delhi: With months to go for the Lok Sabha polls, the Janata Dal (United) on Friday saw a change at its helm as the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was unanimously re-elected as President of the party at a meeting of the party’s national executive in Delhi.
Later, speaking to reporters after the party’s national council meeting in Delhi, he said that he has accepted the post of the national president of the party.

“I have accepted the post of the national president of the party”, he said.
It came after Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lalan Singh, resigned from the post.
It is not the first time when Nitish Kumar has taken over as the president of the party. In 2016, he became party president after replacing Sharad Yadav. A year later, Kumar broke the ruling alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and joined hands with the BJP.
Last year, Nitish Kumar ended his five-year-long association with the BJP again and reunited with the RJD.

Later, JD (U) spokesperson KC Tyagi rejected rumours of a tiff between the two leaders.
“Our party remains united, there are no differences between Nitish Kumar and Lalan Singh,” he said.
“Four proposals were passed including a political caste-based census at the national level. In January, Nitish Kumar will start a campaign starting from Jharkhand. He authorised to negotiate with allies for seat sharing agreement,” Tyagi said.

Tyagi further called the Bihar CM the ‘prime minister of ideas’ of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A- an alliance forged for putting up a united front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance umbrella.
“(Bihar CM) Nitish Kumar is the convenor and Prime Minister of the ideas of the I.N.D.I.A alliance. He has given so much priority to the issue of social justice,” Tyagi said.

Earlier, Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary confirmed the offer of resignation from Lalan Singh saying “There is a national executive meeting of JD (U) going on. 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…”