Nitish confidante RCP Singh is new JDU President

In a surprise move, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar stepped down as national president of the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday and handed over the reins of the party to former bureaucrat turned politician, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh. Singh, a second-term Rajya Sabha MP, is a close associate of Nitish Kumar and has been actively carrying on the JD (U) organizational work ever since he became an MP in 2010 after taking voluntary retirement from service that year. He was the general secretary of the party before his elevation as its president.

“Nitish Kumar ji decided to relinquish the post of party president and proposed the name of RCP Singh for the same, following which Singh has been elected as new party chief for next three years,” said party principal general secretary K C Tyagi. Kumar’s term as JD (U) national president was to end in 2022 after his re-election as party chief in 2019. He cited one man, one post principle for stepping down. 

He takes over the reins of the party at a time when the JD (U) performed below par in Bihar assembly elections. When Nitish Kumar became Union railway minister, Singh became his special secretary, later following him through his various portfolios. Tyagi announced that the JD (U) would be contesting the West Bengal polls with full vigour.