Patna: The ruling JD(U) in Bihar may consider renaming itself “JD-Nitish”, with the proposal mooted by the party’s national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha drawing support from at least two senior functionaries.The proposal appears to be aimed at acknowledging former chief minister Nitish Kumar’s role in shaping the party and his political legacy in Bihar. However, there has been no formal decision on the proposed name change.The issue came into focus after a purported video clip of Jha, said to have been recorded a couple of days ago, went viral. In the clip, Jha was heard saying that the party owed its standing to Nitish and that its ideology was based on his political philosophy. “We should therefore consider renaming the party as JD-U-Nitish,” he was heard saying.On Friday, at least two senior JD(U) functionaries backed the proposal while interacting with the media.Deputy CM and minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the party would seriously consider the proposal and credited Nitish with transforming the face of Bihar.Rural development minister Shrawan Kumar described Jha’s proposal as commendable and said it should be translated into action as quickly as possible. “We all are associated with the JD(U) just because of Nitish. We are all almost unanimous on renaming JD(U) as JD-Nitish,” Kumar told the reporters on Friday, describing Nitish as the state’s “Vishwakarma” (creator).The JD(U) came into being in 2003 following the merger of the Sharad Yadav-led Janata Dal with the Samata Party. Although Sharad Yadav served as the party’s national president until 2016, Nitish was widely regarded as its de facto head. Nitish formally took over as national president in 2016, a year before Sharad Yadav was removed from the party.Nitish gave up the party’s top post in 2020, when his close aide RCP Singh, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, became national president. RCP was later replaced by Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh, another key aide who is currently a Union minister. Lalan stepped down as party president in 2023, when Nitish was re-elected to the post, which he continues to hold despite becoming less politically active than in the past.The proposal comes amid another demand by HAM(S) chief and minister Santosh Kumar Suman to rename Bakhtiyarpur, Nitish’s hometown, as “Nitishpur”. HAM(S) is a key NDA ally.“Nishchit rup se naam badalane se sarkar ko koi aitaraj nahin hai (The govt definitely has no objection over renaming the JD(U)),” Suman said.The BJP, too, has been demanding that Bakhtiyarpur be renamed, citing its association with Bakhtiyar Khilji, the Afghan military general who invaded Bihar around nine centuries ago and is traditionally credited with the destruction of Nalanda University.“Khilji had invaded and plundered Bihar, yet there are many cities, such as Bakhtiyarpur, named after him,” Union minister Giriraj Singh said recently.Bakhtiyarpur is also the birthplace of Nitish, who spent his childhood in the town on the outskirts of Patna.
