PATNA: Three weeks after taking over as JD(U) president, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Saturday reconstituted his national team, dropping 13 senior leaders who were office-bearers during the term of his predecessor, Rajiv Ranjan Singh.
Rajya Sabha member Bashistha Narain Singh and Mohammad Nisar, who were not part of the previous team, have been included.
Singh, who had stepped down as the party’s state unit chief three years ago citing health reasons, has been made national vice-president, replacing Mangani Lal Mandal, who is now one of the 11 general secretaries in the 22-member team of office bearers. Nisar, who was earlier working as the office secretary at the party’s national office in New Delhi, has been made national secretary.
K C Tyagi, who was earlier “special adviser-cum-chief spokesperson”, has been redesignated as “political advisor and spokesperson”.
Among the leaders who were relieved, 11 were national general secretaries. These included Harshvardhan Singh, Qamar Alam and former MP from Uttar Pradesh, Dhananajay Singh, who were seen as close to Rajiv Ranjan Singh.
Five Lok Sabha members — Giridhari Yadav, Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi, RP Mandal and Vijay Kumar Manjhi — have also been dropped. Two national secretaries who could not find place in the new team are MLC Rabindra Prasad Singh and Sanjay Verma.
Sanjay Kumar Jha is the only cabinet minister who has been retained in the new team as national general secretary while Gopalganj MP Alok Kumar Suman will continue as the treasurer.
Apart from Tyagi, the other national spokesperson is Rajib Ranjan, a former MLA from the CM’s home district of Nalanda, who returned to JD(U) last year after quitting BJP. However, he has been stripped of the post of national general secretary.
Though the JD(U) leadership has tried to accommodate leaders from all castes and religions
, no Bhumihar community leader from Bihar has found place in the new team, party insiders said.
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