New Delhi: In a surprise move, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar passed his political baton to Rajiv Ranjan Singh popularly known as Lalan Singh. The decision to select Munger MP for the JDU's top post was taken at the party's national executive committee meeting, which was held in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the party's office in New Delhi.
With the appointment of Lalan Singh as party chief, it's for the first time in 18 years of JD(U)'s history that a leader from the upper caste has been given the party's command at the national level. Lalan Singh belongs to the Bhumihar community, which is a politically dominant caste in Bihar.
Notably, change in the guard was necessitated after the resignation of JD(U) chief RCP Singh on being inducted into the Narendra Modi Cabinet in the recently held Cabinet expansion.
As per political experts, the party has changed its strategy after a poor show in the Assembly election as JDU's performance was slipped to the third position, while RJD had bagged the first position.
The appointment of Lalan Singh is considered as a move to reach out to the forward castes in the state after the JDU scored even less than its ally partner BJP in the last year's Assembly elections.
The JDU was formed on October 30, 2003, and since then the party has had three presidents – all belonging to the OBC community. Sharad Yadav from the Yadav community was the party's first national president, while Nitish Kumar, who had replaced Yadav, belonged to Kurmi community and third president RCP Singh was also from the Kurmi community.
Commenting on the appointment of the new party chief, JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that the decision would help in boosting the morale of party workers.