Ashok Choudhary with Nitish Kumar.
Credit: X/@AshokChoudhaary
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday reaffirmed his faith in trusted aide Ashok Choudhary by naming the senior cabinet colleague as a national general secretary of his Janata Dal (United).
According to a statement issued by JD(U) national general secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan, the chief minister, who is also the party's national president, appointed Choudhary to the senior party post "with immediate effect". There are several national general secretaries in the JD(U).
"I am extremely grateful to my leader for giving me this honour. There are many who resent my rise in the party, saying I have not been there since Samata Party days. I do not deny that but anybody who knows me is aware that ever since I joined the JD(U), I have been giving my 100 per cent to the organisation," Choudhary told reporters.
Notably, Choudhary joined the JD(U) in 2018, quitting the Congress of which he had headed the Bihar unit. He is the Rural Works Minister in the state cabinet and is the JD(U)'s in charge for the adjoining key state of Jharkhand.
His elevation in the party comes close on the heels of a controversy over a social media post.
The minister later made it clear that the post was "personal and not political" and lashed out at detractors for spreading the rumour that he had cocked a snook at the chief minister whom he considered a "manas pita" (father figure).
"In my political career, I have felt shattered twice. The first time I was compelled to quit the Congress. However, on the second occasion, Nitish Kumar put his foot down and backed me. The designation is not that important. But the timing is," added Choudhary.
By the second occasion, he referred to the controversy over the social media post.
Choudhary landed in a controversy on September 24 over a post on X, in which his expression "badhti umar" or advancing age was interpreted as a jibe at 73-year-old Nitish Kumar.
Choudhary, however, later clarified that the post was entirely personal and not political.
"How can I say anything bad about someone whom I consider like my 'manas pita'? No one would have received as much love from my respected leader (Nitish Kumar) as I did," he had told reporters.
"Whatever I wrote has no political meaning... It's purely personal. It was related to kids who don't listen to you when they grow up," Choudhary added.
Seen as the pro-OBC JD(U)'s Dalit face, Ashok Choudhary is the son of late Mahavir Choudhary, a senior Congress leader who enjoyed ministerial stints when the party ruled the state.
Ashok Choudhary had also served in the cabinet headed by RJD president Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi from the Congress quota and grew close to Nitish Kumar when the JD(U) supremo formed a government in alliance with the two parties in 2015.
Kumar is understood to have been impressed with Choudhary's performance as the education minister and gave him the crucial building construction portfolio after he joined the JD(U), splitting the Congress.
The 56-year-old leader's daughter Shambhavi, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi called "the youngest NDA candidate" in the recently held Lok Sabha polls, is with Union minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and is the sitting MP from Samastipur.