At a party legislators’ meeting, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) on Saturday elected its two-time legislator Shakeel Ahmad Khan as the new Leader of its Legislature Party in the State Assembly.
Mr. Khan was elected in place of party MLA from Bhagalpur, Ajit Sharma.
Ahead of next year’s general election, the BPCC elected Mr. Khan as its new CLP leader, apparently to woo minority votes in the State. The minorities constitute 17% of the total population in Bihar and has a significant presence in as many as 58 Assembly constituencies, mostly in the northeastern border districts of the State’s total 243 legislative seats.
The outgoing CLP leader comes from the upper caste Bhumihar community like the State party president Akhilesh Singh. He was made the CLP leader soon after the 2020 Assembly election in the State.
“The party was apparently not in favour of having both the posts going to the upper caste so, they replaced Mr. Sharma with Mr. Khan and sent out a message to the minority community,” a senior State Congress leader preferring anonymity, told The Hindu.
“The Lok Sabha election is not far away and such changes in the party’s State structure matters in sending out political messages,” he added.
Mr. Khan was elected at a meeting of the State Congress legislators held at Sadaquat Ashram, the party headquarters of BPCC. Mr. Khan is the second time Congress MLA from Kadwa Assembly constituency in Katihar district of northeast Bihar. He has also been the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) in 1992.
The Congress party currently has 19 MLAs in the State Assembly and is a major constituent of the ruling mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) of seven parties in the State along with the RJD and the JD(U) and others.
