The Congress has signalled through its choice of Akhilesh Prasad Singh as its Bihar unit head that the party plans to contest the next elections as part of the Grand Alliance, led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, instead of contesting on its own.

Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, is close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad. He started his political career in the 1990s with Ranjan Yadav, a senior Janata Dal leader and a friend of Lalu.

Party national general secretary K.C. Venugopal announced his appointment, replacing Madan Mohan Jha, on Monday evening.

When Lalu split the Janata Dal in 1997 to form the RJD with the aim of anointing Rabri Devi as the chief minister due to his impending arrest by the CBI in the fodder scam cases, Singh sided with him. He also became a college professor.

Rising through the ranks, Singh became a minister of state in Rabri Devi’s cabinet in 2000. He went on to win the Lok Sabha election from Motihari (East Champaran) in 2004 and became a minister of state for agriculture, food, public distribution and consumer affairs at the Centre.

He left the RJD in 2010 and later joined the Congress.

“Though Singh joined our party, he retained a soft corner for the RJD. Having him as the state president will ensure good ties between our party and the RJD,” a senior Congress leader told The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.