Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Friday unanimously elected as the JD(U) president after senior party leader Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh stepped down and proposed Kumar’s name for the post.

The party lauded Kumar for bringing together opposition parties and spearheading the demand for a caste census.

Kumar had reached the national capital on Thursday to attend the party’s national executive and national council meetings.

The Bihar government has, however, remained tight-lipped about the development with ministers and party officials denying the reports.

Bihar Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said Singh was working fine.

“Currently, Lalan Singh is the Janata Dal (United) national president. If he is already the national chief, why would such a thing come up? He is working fine,” he said earlier in the day.

Choudhary further conveyed that the matter would be discussed within the party, addressing any potential concerns raised by the agenda during the meeting.

Senior party leader K C Tyagi also emphasised that the party meetings were regular one where alliances in states would also be discussed.

“Today, the JD(U) national executive meeting took place wherein discussions were held on the current political scenario and financial environment of the country…and on seat sharing,” he said.

Commenting on the matter, Singh said, “The national executive is a regular meeting of the JD(U). There are meetings of the national executive often. Nitish Kumar is our supreme leader and the JD(U) is one and will always remain one.”

Asked if any changes are on the cards keeping the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in mind, Tyagi said, “All these things are internal matters of the party. They are neither commented upon nor statements are made publicly.”

The meeting comes just days after the crucial INDIA alliance meeting in Delhi. The JD(U), which is part of the alliance, will now be getting into hectic parleys with the Congress on the alliance combination for the state.

Amidst this many JD(U) leaders are making a pitch for Kumar to lead the INDIA bloc, even as Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal publicly announced Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the prospective prime ministerial candidate.

At the national executive meeting venue, posters featuring Kumar read “Pradesh ne pehchana, ab desh bhi pehchanega” (The state of Bihar recognised him, now the nation will) had been put up.