Nitish takes over JD-U reins

New Delhi, Deciding to lead from the front to take on the BJP in the Hindi heartland, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday took over the command of the Janata Dal-United from outgoing president Sharad Yadav.
The National Executive of the JD-U during a meeting here decided to anoint Kumar as new party chief.
Yadav proposed the name of the Bihar Chief Minister for the post, which was seconded by party national general secretary KC Tyagi. The national executive delegates later gave their stamp of approval by thumping of the desks.
“The BJP won 73 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh and another 33 in Bihar. The two states together account for 106 of the current total strength of 282 of BJP in Lok Sabha. The JD-U under the leadership of Kumar will endeavour to squeeze out the BJP from these two states,” Tyagi told mediapersons after the meeting.
It has always been out in open the personal rivalry between the Bihar Chief Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as both leaders had made it evident during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and also the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls.
“We are not looking at the 2019 General Election only, but the 2017 UP Assembly polls as well,” said Mr Tyagi.
Incidentally, Kumar is seeking to script merger of smaller parties in UP with the JD-U and forge a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for 2017 state elections in a bid to expand his footprints outside Bihar ahead of final assault in 2019. “We stopped them (BJP) in Bihar and we are working to stop them in UP,” added Tyagi.
After George Fernandes (2003-06) and Yadav (1997-2003, 2006-16), Kumar is the third president of the JD-U.
As mandated by the Election Commission, the National Council of the JD-U will meet on April 23 in Patna to approve the decision of the national executive to elect Kumar as party president. With Prashant Kishore, a confidante of the Bihar Chief Minister, already having been inducted in the national executive of the JD-U, Kumar plans to use him to bring together all like-minded parties and allure most of the anti-BJP forces. He has already been embedded in the team of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.