Bihar CM Nitish Kumar takes over as new JD(U) president; Lalan Singh quits

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been elected as president of the Janata Dal (United) at a meeting of the party's national executive in Delhi on Friday. Kumar was appointed the JD(U) 's top post minutes after Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh stepped down from the post.

Speaking to reporters immediately after the meeting, Singh dismissed reports of a rift in the party, saying, "Anger? What anger? Why should I be angry? This is the first time I am hearing this word."

Sources also told NDTV that Lalan Singh was ousted because he was seen as being a little too close to the JDU's alliance partner in Bihar, Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), at a time when RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Yadav's son and Deputy Chief Minister, is being groomed to take over.

The change in the JDU's top leadership also comes months before the 2024 Lok Sabha election and speculation over Nitish Kumar's prime ministerial ambitions in that race. The JDU chief was reportedly turned up as potential PM candidate for the INDIA bloc earlier this month.

Following that episode, Nitish Kumar and the JDU brushed down rumors of rifts within INDIA bloc, when it was suggested that the Congress chief, Mallikarjun Kharge, be the bloc's prime ministerial candidate.
Publicly, Nitish Kumar insisted he only wanted to unite parties opposed to the BJP, and had no personal ambitions. "I felt no disappointment....no resentment," he said.

"At the meeting the issue [of naming a leader came up]. I made it clear at the outset that I was not interested. Then another name was proposed, I said it was okay with me", the Bihar chief minister added.