Janata Dal (United) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Janata Dal (United)
Abbreviation	JD(U)
Leader	Nitish Kumar
Lok Sabha leader	Dileshwar Kamait
Rajya Sabha leader	Sanjay Kumar Jha
Founder	Sharad Yadav George Fernandes Nitish Kumar
Founded	30 October 2003 (21 years ago) (30 October 2003)
Merger of	Janata Dal (Sharad Yadav faction) Samata Party Lok Shakti
Headquarters	7, Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi, India-110001
Newspaper	JD(U) Sandesh
Student wing	Chhatra JDU
Youth wing	Yuva JDU
Women's wing	Mahila JDU
Ideology	Social democracy Secularism
Political position	Centre
ECI Status	State Party: Bihar, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh
Alliance	NDA (2003–2013; 2017–2022; 2024–present) INDIA (2023–24) UPA (2015–2017; 2022–23) Mahagathbandhan (Bihar) (2015–2017; 2022–2024) Mahagathbandhan (Jharkhand) (2022–2024)
Seats in Lok Sabha	12 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	4 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	List 44 / 243 (Bihar Legislative Assembly) 21 / 75 (Bihar Legislative Council) 1 / 81 (Jharkhand Legislative Assembly) 1 / 60 (Manipur Legislative Assembly)
Number of states and union territories in government	1 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
jdu.org.in
Elections

The symbol of the Janata Dal (United) party.

The Janata Dal (United), often called JD(U), is a political party in India. Its name means "People's Party (United)". This party mainly works in the eastern and north-eastern parts of India. Its main goals are to make society fairer and help people who are struggling.

The JD(U) is recognized as a state party in Bihar, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh. In Bihar, it leads the state government. In Manipur, it is part of the ruling group. In the 2024 Indian general election, the JD(U) was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It won 12 seats in the Lok Sabha, which is one of India's main parliamentary houses. This made it the seventh-largest party in the Lok Sabha.

The JD(U) was formed on October 30, 2003. It came about when different groups, including a part of the Janata Dal led by Sharad Yadav, the Samata Party, and the Lok Shakti party, joined together. A very important leader for the party was George Fernandes, who had been a socialist leader for a long time.

History

How the Party Started

JDU leaders Nitish Kumar, Umesh Singh Kushwaha, and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary at a nomination event in 2024.

The idea for the Janata Dal (United) began before the 1999 Indian general election. At that time, a group from the original Janata Dal party supported the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). This caused the Janata Dal to split. One part became Janata Dal (Secular), and the other, led by Sharad Yadav, was called Janata Dal (United).

The Janata Dal (United) was officially formed when Sharad Yadav's group, the Lok Shakti party, and the Samata Party merged. This happened on October 30, 2003. The new party kept the "arrow" symbol of the Janata Dal (United) and the green and white flag of the Samata Party. These groups came together because they all opposed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar.

Working with the NDA

Nitish Kumar with party leaders at a state council meeting in Patna.

The JD(U) joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Together with its partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), they won against the RJD-led government in Bihar in November 2005. Nitish Kumar, a JD(U) leader, became the Chief Minister of Bihar. The NDA continued to govern the state.

In the 2009 Indian general election, the alliance won 32 seats. The BJP won 12, and the JD(U) won 20. In the 2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the JD(U) won 115 seats and the BJP won 91. This meant they held 206 out of 243 seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Moving Away from the NDA

The JD(U) ended its 17-year alliance with the BJP in Bihar. This happened because Narendra Modi was chosen to lead the BJP's election campaign for the 2014 Indian general election. JD(U) President Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the split on June 16, 2013.

In the 2014 election, the JD(U) teamed up with the Communist Party of India. However, they only won two seats in Bihar. The BJP and Lok Jan Shakti Party alliance won 31 seats. After this poor result, Nitish Kumar stepped down as Chief Minister of Bihar. Jitan Ram Manjhi then became the new Chief Minister. Later, the RJD supported the JD(U) to help it prove its majority in the assembly.

The Grand Alliance

On December 29, 2014, a party from Kerala called Socialist Janata (Democratic) merged with the JD(U). This was seen as a step to make the JD(U) more popular across India, not just in Bihar.

On April 14, 2015, several parties, including the JD(U), Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal, and others, announced they would merge into a new "Janata Parivar" alliance. This was to fight against the BJP. However, this full merger did not happen.

In the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the JD(U) formed a "Grand Alliance" (Mahagathbandhan (Bihar)) with the RJD and Congress. The JD(U) won 71 of the 101 seats it competed for. The alliance won 178 out of 243 seats in the assembly. After this victory, Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister of Bihar again.

Back with the NDA

On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar. This ended the 20-month-old "Grand Alliance" government. The very next day, on July 27, 2017, he took the oath again as Chief Minister, this time with the support of the BJP. The new NDA government won a vote of confidence in the Bihar assembly on July 28, 2017.

Leaving the NDA Again

On August 9, 2022, Nitish Kumar announced that the JD(U)'s alliance with the BJP in the Bihar Legislative Assembly was over. He said that the new government in Bihar would be a "Mahagathgandhan 2.0," a coalition of nine parties, including the RJD and the Indian National Congress (INC).

Changes After 2020 Elections

Nitish Kumar with state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha and other JDU leaders.

The JD(U) has historically had strong support from certain communities. In the 2020 Assembly elections, the party did not perform as well as before. Its number of seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly dropped from 75 in 2015 to 43. One reason for this was a group led by Upendra Kushwaha leaving the party to form the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party.

To regain support, the JD(U) made changes in its organization. They appointed Ramchandra Prasad Singh as the national president and Umesh Kushwaha as the state president. They also tried to bring Upendra Kushwaha's group back into the party. After the merger, Upendra Kushwaha was made president of the party's parliamentary board.

However, on February 20, 2023, Upendra Kushwaha resigned from his position and formed another party called Rashtriya Lok Morcha. Despite this, Umesh Kushwaha continued to serve as the party's state chief.

2024 Elections and Beyond

Nitish Kumar with newly elected Lok Sabha members in 2024.

In the 2024 Indian general election, the JD(U) was given 16 seats to contest. It formed an alliance with the BJP and the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janashakti Party (Ram Vilas). The JD(U) won 12 seats in this election. This victory was important for forming the Third Modi government.

This election showed that the JD(U) still has strong support, especially among Extremely Backward Castes. To strengthen its support among different caste groups, the JD(U) appointed Dileshwar Kamait, an Extremely Backward Caste member, as its leader in the 18th Lok Sabha. Sanjay Kumar Jha was appointed as the party's leader in the Rajya Sabha after the 2024 general elections.

Following the election, Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur from the JD(U) became ministers in the Third Modi government.

Electoral Performance

This section shows how the Janata Dal (United) has performed in elections over the years.

Lok Sabha Elections

The Lok Sabha is the lower house of India's Parliament.

Assembly Elections

Vidhan Sabha, also known as the Legislative Assembly, is the lower house in the state legislatures of India.

Prominent Members

These are some of the important people in the Janata Dal (United) party:

• Nitish Kumar, the National President and Chief Minister of Bihar.
• Rajiv Ranjan Singh, a Member of Parliament and former Bihar JD(U) President.
• Umesh Kushwaha, the Bihar state President of Janata Dal (United).
• Ramsewak Singh Kushwaha, National General Secretary.
• Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, National General Secretary.
• Kushwaha Ramkumar Sharma, National General Secretary.
• Shri Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, National General Secretary.
• Manish Kumar Verma, National General Secretary.
• Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, former Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
• Harivansh Narayan Singh – the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha since 2018.
• Bashistha Narain Singh, a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha.
• Ram Nath Thakur, the JDU Party leader in the Rajya Sabha.
• Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Minister for Energy, Registration, Excise and Prohibition in the Government of Bihar.

List of Chief Ministers

This table shows the Chief Ministers of Bihar who belonged to the Janata Dal (United) party.

Chief Ministers of Bihar

List of Ministers in the Union Government

This table lists members of the Janata Dal (United) who have served as ministers in the central government of India.

No.	Portrait	Portfolio	Name (Birth–Death)	Term in office			Constituency (House)	Prime Minister
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Minister of Defence	George Fernandes (1930–2019)	15 October 2001	22 May 2004	2 years, 220 days	Nalanda (Lok Sabha)	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2		Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution	Sharad Yadav (1947–2023)	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Madhepura (Lok Sabha)
3		Minister of Railways	Nitish Kumar (born 1951)	20 March 2001	22 May 2004	3 years, 63 days	Barh (Lok Sabha)
4		Minister of External Affairs (MoS)	Digvijay Singh (1955–2010)	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Banka (Lok Sabha)
5		Minister of Steel	Ramchandra Prasad Singh (born 1958)	7 July 2021	6 July 2022	364 days	Bihar (Rajya Sabha)	Narendra Modi
6		Minister of Panchayati Raj	Lalan Singh (born 1955)	10 June 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 73 days	Munger (Lok Sabha)
		Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying
7		Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoS)	Ram Nath Thakur (born 1950)				Bihar (Rajya Sabha)

List of Lok Sabha Members

This table lists the current members of the Lok Sabha from the Janata Dal (United) party.

No.	Image	Name	Constituency
1		Lalan Singh	Munger
2		Giridhari Yadav	Banka
3		Ajay Kumar Mandal	Bhagalpur
4		Sunil Kumar	Valmiki Nagar
5		Lovely Anand	Sheohar
6		Devesh Chandra Thakur	Sitamarhi
7		Dileshwar Kamait	Supaul
8		Vijay Lakshmi Kushwaha	Siwan
9		Alok Kumar Suman	Gopalganj
10		Kaushalendra Kumar	Nalanda
11		Dinesh Chandra Yadav	Madhepura
12		Ramprit Mandal	Jhanjharpur

List of Rajya Sabha Members

This table lists the current members of the Rajya Sabha from the Janata Dal (United) party. The Rajya Sabha is the upper house of India's Parliament.

No.	Image	Name	Date of appointment	Date of retirement	Duration
1		Ram Nath Thakur	10 Apr 2020	10 Apr 2026	6 years, 0 days
2		Sanjay Kumar Jha	3 Apr 2024	4 Apr 2030	6 years, 1 day
3		Harivansh Narayan Singh (Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha)	10 Apr 2020	10 Apr 2026	6 years, 0 days
4		Khiru Mahto	8 July 2022	7 July 2028	5 years, 365 days

National Presidents

This table lists the leaders who have served as the National President of the Janata Dal (United) party.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term in office
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Sharad Yadav (1947–2023)	30 October 2003	10 April 2016	12 years, 163 days
2		Nitish Kumar (born 1951)	10 April 2016	27 December 2020	4 years, 261 days
3		Ramchandra Prasad Singh (born 1958)	27 December 2020	6 July 2022	1 year, 191 days
4		Lalan Singh (born 1955)	31 July 2021	29 December 2023	2 years, 151 days
(2)		Nitish Kumar (born 1951)	29 December 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 236 days

See also

• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
• List of political parties in India