Umesh Kushwaha elected JD-U state president again
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s party, the Janata Dal-United, elected its state unit president Umesh Kushwaha on Sunday unopposed for another term at the party’s state council meeting held in Patna.
CM Kumar handed over the certificate to Kushwaha, who was the sole contender for the post as there was no other nomination filed.
In a surprise move, the lowprofile Kushwaha was made the state JD-U chief in January 2021 after veteran party leader Vashishtha Narayan Singh stepped down, citing health reasons.
Kushwaha’s re-election for a new three-year tenure means the party would go into Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and Assembly elections in 2025 with him at the helm of the state unit.
After his election, Kushwaha thanked the CM and senior party leaders for reposing faith in an ordinary party worker like him once again.
“I will work hard to live up to their expectations and strengthen the party. My endeavour will be to use this challenge as an opportunity to make Bihar BJP-free. People of Bihar know that JD-U has a leader in Nitish Kumar who has transformed the state,” he said.
Kushwaha was elected an MLA for the first time in 2015, from Mahnar seat in Vaishali, but lost in 2020 when JD-U was relegated to the third position in the seats tally. He was made state JD-U chief the next year.
JD-U leaders, including its national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, ministers Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Vijay Kumar Choudhary and others were present on the occasion.