Bihar elections: Mahagathbandhan declares Tejashwi Yadav as CM face, VIP's Mukesh Sahani named as Deputy CM nominee

Tejashwi Yadav

After weeks of extensive deliberations over various aspects of electioneering and seat-sharing, the Mahagathbandhan on Thursday officially named Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Raghopur constituency candidate Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate and Vikassheel Insaan Party's Mukesh Sahani as its nominee for the post of deputy chief minister. The announcement was made during a joint presser in Patna.

Presenting a united face, major constituents of the grouping, unequivocally expressed their desire to fight the elections collectively and termed the upcoming electoral contest as a 'battle between democracy and authoritarian forces'. Congress was represented by former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and senior leader Pawan Khera. The leaders stated that the poll outcome - if in favour of Grand alliance, will usher in a new social reality in the state.

The Mahagathbandhan opposition alliance has fielded 253 candidates for Bihar's 243 Assembly seats, exceeding the total by 10 amid ongoing seat-sharing disputes that forced parties to file unilaterally before Monday's nomination deadline.

Vikassheel Insaan Party Chief Mukesh Sahani, outlining the need for a change in government in the state, said: "...I was awaiting this moment for 3.5 years. The moment has now come. Not just VIP or Mukesh Sahani, lakhs of people of the party were waiting for this. BJP broke our party and poached our MLAs...At that time, we had pledged with Ganga jal in our hands - 'BJP ko jab tak hum todenge nahi, tab tak chhoddenge nahi'...Time has come, standing strong with Mahagathbandhan, we will form our Govt in Bihar and oust BJP from the state. Mahagathbandhan is united and strong. In the time to come, we will work and form our Government."

Polling will take place in two phases -- November 6 and 11. The outcome will be declared November 14 -- thereby pitting the NDA's 243-candidate against Mahagathbandhan's 253. Both the groupings (NDA and Grand alliance) were plagued initially by internal dissension with major constituents -- Congress in Mahagathbandhan and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) in NDA, trying to extract maximum in the early rounds of seat-sharing talks.

The alliance, unified on Tejashwi Yadav as CM face, campaigns on "Badlo Sarkar, Bachao Bihar" against NDA's alleged vote theft via Special Intensive Revision deletions, but internal discord risks vote splits in caste-sensitive belts. CPI's D Raja reiterated the drive to defeat BJP-RSS, viewing Bihar as a 2029 Lok Sabha precursor, while NDA leaders like Nitish Kumar launch rallies amid their own minor frictions.