Nitish Kumar reconstitutes JD(U)'s team of national office-bearers, K C Tyagi made political advisor

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced a new team of the party's national office-bearers, relieving several Lok Sabha MPs of their organisational positions and elevating K C Tyagi as political advisor.

Rajya Sabha MP Bashistha Narain Singh has been made vice president, replacing Mangani Lal Mandal who is now one of the 11 general secretaries in the organisation.

In the outgoing team constituted by the then party president Lalan Singh, there were 22 general secretaries. Those removed as general secretaries include Uttar Pradesh strongman Dhananjay Singh and Harsh Vardhan Singh, among others.

Party sources said they include five Lok Sabha MPs as they are expected to focus on the upcoming general elections.

Tyagi was a special advisor earlier. He remains one of the two party spokespersons, with Rajiv Ranjan being the other. Bihar minister Sanjay Jha, Rajya Sabha MP Ram Nath Thakur, Ali Ashraf Fatmi and Afaque Ahmad Khan have been retained as general secretaries.

Nitish Kumar was elected as the party president last month.