JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha on Thursday sidestepped a query on the proposal raised by an alliance partner to rename Bakhtiyarpur, the birthplace of former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, after the leader, saying the Rajya Sabha member does not believe in rechristening places.

Jha was asked about a statement by minister Santosh Kumar Suman, the national president of Hindustani Awam Morcha, who has sought renaming of the town on the outskirts of Patna as “Nitishpur”.

“My party and I thank him (Suman) for expressing such a sentiment. But Nitish Kumar has always let his work speak on his behalf. He has never believed in renaming places,” said the JD(U) working president.

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Kumar, 75, the party’s national president, was the state’s longest-serving chief minister and he gave up the post in April to get elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Jha, who is a Rajya Sabha MP himself, also said, “Let us bear in mind that merely changing the name of the place will not erase from history the fact that Bakhtiyar Khilji had invaded the land and set Nalanda, the ancient seat of learning, on fire”.

“We, however, take pride in the fact that it was our leader’s efforts that resulted in a modern, international university being set up in Nalanda. I recall late CPI(M) stalwart Sitaram Yechury having pointed out the glorious coincidence in Parliament that a son of Bakhtiyarpur was reviving the glory of Nalanda, eight centuries after it was ravaged by Bakhtiyar Khilji,” added the JD(U) leader.

Suman floated the idea of renaming in a post on X on Wednesday, saying the life journey, struggles, and countless memories of Kumar are tied to Bakhtiyarpur.

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“Honouring the birthplace of such a mass leader-who paved a new path for Bihar in development, good governance, and social transformation-with his name will not just be a change of a place’s name; it will be an act of respect to the pride of that soil, its history, and the public sentiments connected to it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the RJD, the main opposition party which is headed by Kumar’s arch rival Lalu Prasad, sneered at the suggestion made by Suman, whose father Jitan Ram Manjhi is a minister in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

“It is preposterous to suggest that Bakhtiyarpur should be named after Nitish Kumar. It appears that the next suggestion from BJP allies would be to name the country after Narendra Modi,” RJD MLA Bhai Virendra told reporters.