Senior leader Ananth Kumar made BJP's Bihar election in-charge

 Union Minister Ananth Kumar was on Friday made election in-charge of BJP in poll-bound Bihar where it will take on the formidable RJD-JD(U)-Congress combine.

Kumar will be assisted by another Union minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, a former in-charge of party affairs in Bihar, and who has been made co-incharge of the elections by party president Amit Shah. BJP-led NDA alliance has a tough task ahead in the high-stakes election against the RJD-JD(U)-Congress alliance, which has declared Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate.

In a shot in the arm for the saffron party, former JD(U) leader and a fierce opponent of Nitish Kumar, Jitan Ram Manjhi announced a tie-up with it on Thursday. Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and Union Minister Upendra Prasad Kushwaha-led RLSP are the other allies of BJP in the state.

Ananth Kumar, a six-time MP, has held key organisational posts in the party and played a crucial role in several election campaigns. Once seen as out of favour of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, the Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister has steadily clawed his way back into the thick of the party's affairs and Friday's announcement has only affirmed this.