Patna, March 7 Nishant Kumar, the son of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is set to formally join the JD(U) on Sunday, marking a generational shift in party leadership, sources said.
Nishant's joining will take place at the party's headquarters here in the presence of senior leaders, ministers, MPs, MLAs, and MLCs, they said.
The development comes two days after the JD(U) supremo filed nomination papers for the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections, marking a turning point in Bihar politics and virtually bringing an end to his tenure as the state's longest-serving chief minister.
"Nishant Kumar met party MLAs and MLCs at the residence of JD(U) national working president Sanjay Jha here on Friday and discussed his future strategies at length. It has been finalised that Nishant will enter active politics after formally joining the JD(U) on Sunday," one of the party sources said.
Senior JD(U) leader Sharvan Kumar was the only Bihar minister who was present in the meeting, another party source said.
JD(U) legislators had on Friday expressed their anguish to Nitish Kumar over his decision to move to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha MP, but had drawn solace from the imminent political entry of Nishant.
The party's members of the bicameral legislature and both Houses of Parliament, who had been taken aback by the sudden move of the JD(U) chief, got an opportunity to interact with the leader at a meeting on Friday evening at the Chief Minister's residence.
"Lawmakers of the party were assured by the chief minister that he had taken the decision on his own and was not under any pressure. Nitish Kumar also assured that he would keep himself available for party workers in the state for guidance," state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary told reporters after the meeting.
Responding to another query, he said, "Yes, the CM has given the green signal for Nishant's entry into the party."
