By Top leaders of the ruling JD(U) in Bihar will hold deliberations at the party’s two-day national executive meeting to be chaired by JD(U)’s national president Nitish Kumar, beginning December 26 in Patna.
The party is likely to deliberate on its performance in recently concluded Assembly polls and mull on the ways and means to revive the party not only in Bihar but in other states as well. The national executive is also likely to take a call on whether the party would contest assembly elections in West Bengal.
“The two-day meeting will deliberate on the party’s performance in Bihar as to what went wrong besides chalk out plans to revitalise the party and its workers,” said K C Tyagi, principal national general secretary of the JD(U).
“The party is serious about expanding itself in other states too, so a decision to contest elections outside Bihar can also be taken during the meeting,” Tyagi added.
Party leaders said it will also analyse the causes of its poor performance in assembly polls in Bihar.
As part of its plan to regroup the party workers, party’s national president Nitish Kumar had started frequenting the party office and begun interaction with party workers and office-bearers.
Last meeting of the JD(U) national executive was held on October 30, 2019 in New Delhi when Nitish Kumar was re-elected party’s national president.
“The meeting will be attended by all national and state office-bearers and it has been organised at newly-constructed Karpoori Thakur Sabhaghar at the party office in Patna,” said JD(U)’s spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan.
The JD(U) national executive has 60 members and at present it has units in 28 states.
Party leaders, who didn’t wish to be quoted on record, said the national executive meeting becomes all the more important as this is the first time since 2005 that the JD (U) is playing a second fiddle to the BJP in the NDA government in Bihar. “So far, it has been the senior partner in 2005, 2010 and in 2017 when JD(U) and the BJP joined hands again,” said a party functionary.
The JD (U), which contested on 115 seats in the recently concluded assembly polls, could win only 43 seats as against 74 seats won by the BJP, which contested on 110 seats. The JD (U) had won 71 seats in 2015 assembly polls.
The NDA in Bihar comprises the JD(U), BJP, HAM-S and Mukesh Sahni-led VIP. The LJP, which is part of the NDA at the centre, opted out of the alliance in Bihar and contested the polls independently.
Party’s general secretary Afaque Ahmad Khan said that the party will contest West Bengal assembly polls and the meeting is likely to decide on the number of seats it will contest. The JD(U) had contested 50 seats in West Bengal in 2011 and two seats in alliance with the Congress and left in 2016, but fared badly.
