Bihar polls: Tejashwi Yadav as campaign face? Poll dates announced, INDIA bloc yet to name CM pick

Tejashwi Yadav

The formal announcement of poll dates for Bihar's 243-member legislative assembly officially marks the beginning of an intense campaign, which until now was dominated by competing narratives. Leading up to the official declaration of the dates by the poll body, NDA, lead by BJP, made umpteen attempts to drive home the point that the Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) primary focus was on ensuring Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav becomes the chief minister, but for the saffron party, the campaign is focused on driving out ‘infiltrators’ from Bihar and not letting ‘jungle raj’ return.

As the campaign by both bloc -- National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and INDIA (Mahagathbandhan alliance) is set to enter a decisive juncture, an issue that is seen as a constant irritant-- especially in the Mahagathbandhan bloc is its continued reluctance to officially declare a chief ministerial face. The issue found multiple mentions during press addresses by senior leaders of the grouping.

The severity of the issue can be gauged with reference to a recent happening -- when Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav declared himself as the chief ministerial face of the INDIA bloc for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls during the last leg of Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in poll-bound Bihar.

The failure to arrive at a 'consensus' face by the grouping has not only complicated matters but may have an electoral impact as the grouping gears up to take on the incumbent alliance. As early as April this year, Yadav, was appointed as the head of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)’s coordination committee for the Bihar Assembly election.

Yadav's 'CM remark', in presence of Rahul Gandhi was further reiterated by none other than RJD MP Manoj Jha-- when he said Tejashwi Yadav is the CM face of the Opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar, asserting that this was a “natural truth”, as irrefutable as the sun rising in the east.

Tejashwi Yadav's veiled message

In an interview to NDTV in September, Yadav categorically expressed that the grand alliance will not contest the Bihar assembly election without a Chief Ministerial face, packing in a little dig. "Are we the BJP that we do not have any faces? We definitely will not contest the elections without projecting a Chief Ministerial face," he said in an exclusive interview while on supplementary Adhikar Yatra -areas that had been left out from the main Opposition footmarch that concluded two weeks ago.

RJD-Congress grapple with seat-sharing

The Mahagathbandhan led by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Congress alliance has been facing a hard bargain over seat distribution from its constituent partner, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), led by Mukesh Sahni. The party had contested 11 seats in the 2020 assembly elections, as a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance. Now, being a part of Mahagathbandhan, Sahni is demanding more to expand his electoral territory.
The VIP leadership is dragging its feet and hasn't been able to arrive at common terms with the alliance, which has led to the delay in the official announcement of the seat sharing.

Why Mahagathbandhan is treading cautiously

According to senior party leaders, the Mahagathbandhan is treading carefully on seat-sharing in Bihar, with alliance partners engaged in long discussions and the assessment being done over which party can best reclaim lost ground. Constituencies where the alliance lost last time are being closely examined, with both margin of defeat and caste equations being taken into consideration. "The idea is to allocate seats to the partner who is strong enough to secure victory on a particular seat," a senior leader remarked.