JD-U national council meet: Lalan Singh set for 2nd term, Nitish shrugs off bypoll defeat

The party also resolved to get the national party status and attain the larger goal of opposition unity ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Bihar chief minister’s party, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), sought to downplay its defeat in the just concluded Kurhani assembly bypoll at its national council meeting on Saturday and unanimously voted for a second term for Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh as its national president.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar with JD-U national president Lalan Singh . (Santosh Kumar/HT)

The post has a three-year term.

JD-U’s national executive is expected to approve Singh’s name at its meeting on Sunday, party leaders said.

The party also resolved to get the national party status and attain the larger goal of opposition unity ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“We are hopeful of getting national status,” said party’s national principal general secretary K C Tyagi. “The party is confident that Nitish Kumar would be successful in his mission 2024 by uniting the opposition ahead of Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

Asked if Kumar will succeed in taking along Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and others, Tyagi said, “The task is difficult but not impossible. In Himachal Pradesh, no party contested against Congress and the party won, but the same did not happen in Gujarat. Nitish Kumar, in his bid to unite the opposition, has made it clear that political untouchability has no place in uniting the opposition.”

Asked if AIMIM chief Owaisi was denting opposition’s votes, Tyagi said, “Owaisi vitiates the political atmosphere, which indirectly helps BJP.”

Nitish Kumar, in his address, asked party leaders not to lose heart because of the bypoll defeat in Kurhani. “One defeat should not demotivate us. Nobody talks of defeat in Himachal Pradesh,” he said Kumar and hoped JD-U would attain the status of national party under Lalan Singh.

The national executive and open session organised on Sunday is likely to discuss other issues too, including better co-ordination between alliance partners and bypoll results.