Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar, the JDU president, will address a conference of party workers in New Delhi on Sunday aimed at expansion of the JDU's base and recognition of it as a national party.

Nearly 20,000 party workers are expected to gather at the meeting in Talkatora stadium aimed at strengthening the JDU.

Sanjay Jha, the national general secretary, said: "We had contested the MCD election (Delhi civic polls) and got around 50,000 votes - a good beginning for the party. The JDU's base in the national capital is the presence of the purvanchal and migrant residents in Delhi. So, there is a huge possibility for the JDU."

Senior leaders apart from Jha such as K.C. Tyagi, RCP Singh, Bashishtha Narayan Singh will be at the Delhi conference.

"In the last six months, many things have happened and we have emphasised on the expansion of the party. Nitish ji's focus is on Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi apart from Bihar, he wants to expand the base of the party," Jha said. "We launched the party in Delhi on December 3 last year and in just a year we have become such a big force."

The party contested the civic polls in the national capital on 101 seats but even after Nitish held two road shows and public rallies, it did not win a single seat.

But Jha iterated the migrant voters were fed up with Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress and were looking for an option. Nitish could emerge as the leader of those people, he said.

Nitish will talk on issues concerning Delhi, including unauthorised colonies and the public distribution system, at the conference on Sunday apart from illegal manufacture of liquor. Jha said there are 1,642 unauthorised colonies in the national capital.