Janata Dal (U) leader Ashok Chaudhary has been appointed as the National General Secretary of the party ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for early next year. The announcement was made by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Notably, Choudhary is the Rural Works Department minister in the Bihar government. He also also considered as a close aide of CM Kumar.
Ashok Chaudhary meets CM Nitish Kumar
The development comes two days after Chaudhary met Kumar on Tuesday (September 24) and downplayed a controversy triggered by his social media post that led to speculations that the senior JD(U) leader was taking a dig at the Chief Minister. Chaudhary also shared a photo of them together in another post. Using the first line of a popular song from the 1972 film ‘Amar Prem’ as the caption of the photo clicked during the day, the minister said, "Kuch to log kehnge, logo ka kam hai kehna (People will gossip, it's their job). So please stop listening to hearsay." The minister, who had joined JD(U) six years ago, quitting the Congress of which he had been the state president, landed in a controversy over an early morning post on X.
In that post written in the form of a poem, Chaudhary wrote about several situations faced by people in 'badhti umar' (after growing old). Each of those situations is followed by a single refrain: “Chhod dijiye (leave it)”. In the post, he said: If someone does not understand something even after explaining it once or twice, then you should "leave” explaining; if grown-up children start taking their decisions, then you should “leave” them undisturbed; after a certain age, if someone does not talk to you or speaks ill about you behind your back, you should "leave" taking them close to your heart.
Bihar Assembly elections 2025
It should be noted here that the Assembly elections in Bihar are expected to be held early next year. The previous Assembly elections were held in October–November 2020. After the election, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed the state government, with Nitish Kumar becoming Chief Minister. Later, In August 2022 Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) snapped ties with NDA and formed the government with RJD-led Mahagathbandhan. However, in January 2024 Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) again snapped ties with RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and again formed the government with BJP-led NDA.
