Nitish Kumar elected JD(U) president unopposed for another term

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been elected unopposed as JD(U) president for another term, his party said on Sunday.

The party's national returning officer Aneel Hedge said Kumar was the only candidate for the post and was officially declared as its president after the time of withdrawal for nomination ended on Sunday.

Four sets of nominations were filed by groups of party leaders on Kumar's behalf.

For long an undisputed leader of the JD(U), Kumar will steer the party during the upcoming assembly bypolls and the assembly election slated next year, at a time when its tie-up with the BJP has been uneasy.

A section of BJP leaders, including Union minister Giriraj Singh, has been taking potshots at his leadership of the alliance in the state over various reasons, the latest being the government's handling of floods, especially in Patna.

Another BJP leader, Sanjay Paswan, an MLC, had demanded that Kumar make way for a saffron party leader at the helm.

Political watchers have seen the recent development as a sign of the BJP trying to assert its supremacy after it came back to power at the Centre with a bigger mandate, with its alliance winning all but one of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, an unprecedented feat.

However, JD(U) believes that Kumar remains by far the most popular NDA leader and is unwilling to cede any ground to the BJP.