Cong picks ex-JNUSU president as its leader in Bihar assembly

However, of the total 19 Congress MLAs in Bihar, 11, including Sharma, skipped the meeting, which was attended by AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar, AICC in-charge for Bihar, Bhakta Charan Das, AICC observer Shaktisinh Gohil and state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and two-term MLA from Kadwa in Katihar district, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, has been elected as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Bihar, replacing incumbent Ajeet Sharma.

Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh (left) felicitates party leader Shakil Ahmad Khan after the latter was elected as Congress legislature party leader at the party office in Patna on Saturday. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

Khan, also a former JNU Students’ Union president, was declared elected as the CLP leader at a meeting convened by the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) at its state office Sadaquat Ashram on Saturday.

However, of the total 19 Congress MLAs in Bihar, 11, including Sharma, skipped the meeting, which was attended by AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar, AICC in-charge for Bihar, Bhakta Charan Das, AICC observer Shaktisinh Gohil and state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh.

A senior party official said change of the CLP face was imminent given the caste equations in the state committee. “Both Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Ajeet Sharma were of the same caste (Bhumihar). As a majority of the positions in the organisation are held by the upper caste leaders, the party has decided to elevate Khan, a minority leader, as the CLP leader,” he said.

However, BPCC media department head Rajesh Kumar Rathore said only a few MLAs, who were on the assembly committee tour, did not attend.