Nitish Kumar has once again been unanimously elected as the president of Janata Dal (United), signalling that he is not stepping away from active politics even as he prepares to relinquish the post of Chief Minister of Bihar.
The current party chief was the sole candidate for the post of national president. After scrutiny of nomination papers and the deadline for withdrawal passed, election officer Anil Hegde declared him elected on Tuesday.
After governing Bihar for nearly two decades, Nitish Kumar is now set to move to national politics and head to the Rajya Sabha. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 16 and is expected to take oath as a member of the Upper House of Parliament in Delhi in the second week of April or later.
In a social media post announcing his decision to step down as Chief Minister and contest the Rajya Sabha election, Nitish said that entering the Upper House had long been a personal aspiration. He has previously been a member of the Lok Sabha and both Houses of the Bihar legislature, but this will be his first term in the Rajya Sabha.
With this, he will join a select group of Bihar leaders who have served in the Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
The JD(U) was formed in 2003 through the merger of George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar’s Samata Party, Sharad Yadav’s faction of the Janata Dal, and Ramakrishna Hegde’s Lok Shakti. Since then, Nitish has served as the party president multiple times.
Nitish Kumar first assumed the post in 2016 after Sharad Yadav stepped down, and was reappointed in 2019. In 2020, he stepped down voluntarily and handed over the responsibility to R.C.P. Singh. After Singh, Lalan Singh became president, but resigned in December 2023. Nitish Kumar then took charge again and has held the position since.
Discussions within the party and the government about his successor had been ongoing, but his decision to continue as party president for another term indicates that his son, Nishant Kumar, will have more time to gain experience.
The move is also being seen as an attempt to reassure party workers who were unsettled by Nitish Kumar’s decision to shift to national politics.