Senior JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav has decided not to continue as party president, a post which he held for 10 years. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to be elected as the new president in its National Council meeting here on April 10.
Yadav as party president has completed his three successive terms. He has now refused to make any amendment in the party constitution so as to elect him for the next coming term," party spokesperson KC Tyagi said.
Yadav has been at the helm since 2006 and was reelected for a third term in 2013 by amending the party's constitution which then allowed a maximum of two tenures. "There are talks within the party that Nitsih Kumar himself may become the party chief as he seeks to expand its footprints beyond Bihar with a merger with Ajit Singh-led RlD and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha," said a party source.
Yadav is believed to have conveyed to Kumar his view that he was not keen on continuing after leading the party for 10 years and that a new person should be put in command. It was with the support of Kumar that Yadav became the party chief for the first time in 2006 after ousting its then head George Fernandes in an election and then was elected again in 2009 and 2013.
The change of guard in JD (U) will indicate the changes in its internal dynamics at a time when Kumar is being seen to be preparing the party for the 2019 lok Sabha polls along with election strategist Prashant Kishor, who has emerged as his most dependable ally after playing a vital role in the party's rout of BJP in 2015 Bihar Assembly polls.
Though the party chief's tenure is of two years, elections in several states delayed the organisational polls and it recently conveyed to the Election Commission that it will complete the process by June 30.