Nitish recasts JD-U team

The ruling Janata Dal-United in Bihar has announced a new team of national office-bearers, reducing the number of members from 32 to 22.

The ruling Janata Dal-United in Bihar, led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, on Saturday announced a new team of national office-bearers, pruning the current list of 32 members to 22.

JD-U leaders with new inductees at the party office in Patna on Saturday. (HT photo)

Kumar took over as the party president in December last year, for a third time.

The incumbent vice president of the party, Magni Lal Mandal, has been replaced with veteran socialist leader Bashishth Narayan Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP and a close aide of Kumar. Singh had earlier stepped down as the state unit president of the party three years ago, citing health reasons.

Mandal, who was made the vice-president in March last year, has been included in the team of general secretaries though.

Another veteran party leader, K C Tyagi, who failed to find a place in organisational revamp carried out in March 2023 by the then president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, before being re-inducted in May 2023, retains his post of “political advisor and spokesperson”.

The other spokesperson in the list is Rajib Ranjan, a former MLA who hails from the chief minister’s home district of Nalanda. Ranjan returned to the JD-U last year after quitting the BJP, though he has been stripped of the post of national general secretary he has been holding so far.

In the revamp, the number of general secretaries has been reduced from 22 to 11. Four Lok Sabha members have been removed from the post of general secretary. Party leaders aware of matter said this has been done with a view to Lok Sabha polls.

Sanjay Kumar Jha is the lone Bihar minister in the list of general secretaries. Besides Jha, Rajya Sabha MP Ramnath Thakur, son of late CM Karpoori Thakur, also continues to be a general secretary.

In an apparent signal to the minorities that the party cares for them, Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi, Afaque Ahmed Khan and Kahkashan Parveen have also been retained as national general secretaries.

A surprise inclusion in the list of general secretaries is Kapil Harishchandra Patil, a member of the Maharashtra legislative council and a known loyalist of late Sharad Yadav, who headed the JD-U for the longest period of time but had severed ties with the party towards the end of his career.

Alok Kumar Suman, the MP from the reserved Gopalganj seat, has been retained as treasurer, becoming the only sitting Lok Sabha member in the new list of office-bearers.

The list also includes six national secretaries, including Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, who can be often seen representing the party in debates on news channels.