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Patna, Jan 18 (IANS) Mangal Pandey was Friday appointed the chief of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar. Pandey, 44, replaced the 81-year-old C.P. Thakur, a former union minister.
"Pandey was elected unanimously. Now the BJP leadership in the state is in the hands of a young leader," Ananth Kumar, in-charge of the party's affairs in Bihar, said.
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A member of Bihar legislative council, Pandey was the only candidate to file nomination for the post, the deadline for which was Thursday.
Pandey is from Bhrigu Ballia village in Maharajganj block of Siwan district and joined the party in 1990. He started his political career as an ABVP activist and later joined the BJP Yuva Morcha.
The soft spoken leader is known as a close confidant of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who was the architect of Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United)-BJP coalition government in the state.
"It is a victory of Sushil Kumar Modi who managed to appoint his nominee Pandey as state BJP president. It will strengthen the party's alliance with the Janata Dal (United)," a senior BJP leader said.
The BJP will contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Bihar assembly elections in 2015 under Pandey.
However, a section of BJP leaders are not happy with Pandey's appointment. Some party workers and supporters of outgoing president Thakur created ruckus by raising slogans against Sushil Kumar Modi when central party leadership arrived here Thursday.
Earlier, a senior BJP legislator Avnish Singh publicly expressed his displeasure over nomination of Pandey as the paty's state president.
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