Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Sunday elected president of the Janata Dal (United) at the party's National Council meeting, reported PTI. Kumar was widely tipped to take over from former chief Sharad Yadav, who on April 4 decided against going for a fourth successive term as party president. Kumar's name was proposed by Yadav himself and seconded by senior JD(U) functionaries such as KC Tyagi and Javed Raza, party leaders told PTI. This puts Kumar in total command of the party ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and the 2019 general elections.