Tiwari was earlier considered close to Nitish Kumar. However, he was last year removed as party spokesman, and is now not seen in the company of the chief minister at official functions or party meetings.
The JD-U has announced the nomination of three new faces for the elections to five Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
The party nominated Ramnath Thakur, Harivansh and Kahkashan Perween as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls to be held Feb 7.
Thakur is the son of former chief minister Karpoori Thakur. Harivansh is editor-in-chief of Hindi newspaper Prabhath Khabar while Perween is also a JD-U leader.
