Nitish Kumar elected NDA legislature party leader

PATNA: Nitish Kumar was elected leader of the NDA Legislature Party this evening paving the way for the JD(U) leader to stake claim to form the new government in Bihar.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said Kumar will proceed straightaway to Raj Bhavan to stake claim.

Kumar's name was proposed by state NDA convenor Nand Kishore Yadav and seconded by state JD(U) president Vijay Kumar Choudhary. Later, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav announced Kumar's name as joint leader of the NDA.

Earlier, Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi were unanimously elected leaders of JD(U) and BJP legislature parties.

The 115-member JD(U) Legislature Party elected Kumar as its leader.

Kumar's name was proposed by senior party leader Ramai Ram and seconded, among others, by Sahid Ali Khan, besides state JD(U) chief Vijay Kumar Choudhary.

Modi was elected leader of the 91-member BJP Legislature Party at a separate meeting held in presence of senior party leaders, including Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan and state party chief C P Thakur.

Modi's name was proposed by senior party MLA Nand Kishore Yadav and seconded by his colleagues, including Ashwini Choubey and others.