Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, JD(U) Rajya Sabha member and a close confidante of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, became the new party president on Sunday after Mr. Kumar resigned from the post.
The Chief Minister had been holding the post of party president for long and Mr. Singh was the national general secretary.
At the national executive committee meeting of the party held at the party headquarters in Patna, Mr. Kumar proposed Mr. RCP Singh as the new president, which was subsequently accepted unanimously by the party’s executive body and party leaders.
Sources said Mr. Kumar had earlier communicated to senior party leaders that he would like to relinquish the post and have Mr Singh take his place.
Mr. Singh, a former IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been with Mr. Kumar since the latter’s stint as Union Agriculture Minister. “I’ve been with Mr. Kumar for the last 23 years and hope to rise to the expectations of the party as its president”, Mr Singh told media persons. Mr Singh said he would strive to make JD(U) a national party and “also ensure that developments like Arunachal Pradesh did not happen again”. Recently, six JD(U) MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh had joined the ruling BJP, upsetting party leaders who termed the move “unfriendly”.
Mr. Singh had become Mr. Kumar’s principal secretary when he became Bihar Chief Minister in November 2005. Later, in 2010, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and became the party’s national general secretary. Coming from Nalanda, home district of Mr. Kumar, Mr Singh is known as an organisational man. He also is said to have played an important role in stitching together the BJP-JD(U) alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll and the State Assembly poll held a month ago.
JD(U) and State BJP leaders hailed Mr Singh and said “JD(U) will reach a new height under him”.
Later, addressing media persons after the party’s two-day national council meeting, party leader K.C. Tygai said that now “Nitish Kumar can devote more time to the party’s affair in other States”. He said the party would contest the coming Assembly elections in other States, including West Bengal.
Later, he joined the JD(U) as national general secretary and he was known as an organisational man.
Mr. Singh comes from Nalanda district, home district of Mr. Kumar.
JD(U) leaders hailed Mr. Singh’s elevation and said the party would reach new heights under him.
State BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal too congratulated Mr. Singh.
