Umesh Kushwaha is new Bihar JD(U) president

New Delhi: Former MLA Umesh Kushwaha was on Sunday appointed the new president of JDU’s Bihar unit at a state council meeting of the party in Patna.
Kushwaha replaces Rajya Sabha member Bashistha Narayan Singh who had expressed his inability to continue as the party’s Bihar president on health grounds.

This is the second major change in the JDU’s organization following its not-so-great performance in the 2020 assembly polls. Earlier, RCP Singh was selected as the JDU’s national president in place of CM Nitish Kumar.

Kushwaha’s appointment as the party’s new state president is viewed as JDU’s attempt to restore its old social combination of “Lav-Kush” (Kurmi-Kushwaha). JDU saw a crack in its “Lav-Kush” combination in the state’s different constituencies, particularly in the Old Shahabad region, in the recently concluded 2020 assembly polls.

“Umesh Kushwaha has been assigned with the task of expanding the party’s support base among every sections. He is young and energetic. He would soon tour different parts of the state, " a source in JDU told ET.

Kushwaha was elected to the state assembly from Mahnar in 2015, but lost the seat in 2020.

After being selected as JDU’s Bihar president, Kushwaha told reporters he would work hard to strengthen the party’s base across the state.

Speaking at the state executive meeting, chief minister Nitish Kumar told the party leaders to reach out to people and explain the work done by his government. He underlined the need to counter the opposition’s propaganda on social media platforms.

At its state council meeting, the party passed various resolutions, including its commitment to implement Part 2 of the “seven resolve” programme which is known as “Nitish Ke Saat Nischay”. The party also appreciated the recent work done by the Nitish government to control the spread of Covid-19.