Nitish rejigs JD(U) team, brings Bashistha as VP

Patna: Three weeks after taking over as the JD(U) president, CM Nitish Kumar on Saturday constituted his national team, making drastic cut in the number of office-bearers.
Altogether 13 senior leaders who were office-bearers in the team of Nitish’s predecessor Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh have been dropped. Among the dropped leaders, 11 were national general secretaries while two others were national secretaries.
Two leaders – Rajya Sabha member Bashistha Narain Singh and Mohammad Nisar (from Kerala) who were not the part of the Lalan-led team have been included in the new team.
National general secretaries like Harshvardhan Singh, Qamar Alam and former MP from Uttar Pradesh Dhananajay Singh, who were considered loyal to Lalan Singh have been dropped. Insiders in the JD(U) said, Harshvardhan and Alam were earlier with Lalu Prasad-led RJD before the Joining the JD(U).
Five sitting members of the Lok Sabha from Bihar namely Giridhari Yadav, Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi, RP Mandal and Vijay Kumar Manjhi also have been dropped from Nitish’s team.
Two national secretaries who could not find place in the new team are MLC Rabindra Prasad Singh and Sanjay Verma.
In Lalan’s team, the total number of office-bearers were 33, while in Nitish team, the number has been reduced to 22. In Lalan’s team, there were 22 national general secretaires, in the new team, the number has been reduced to 11.