Rama Krishna Sangem
Tejashwi Yadav, 35 year old younger son of former chief ministers Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi, has been declared CM candidate of INDIA block in the current Bihar assembly elections. This puts at rest the speculation over who will lead Bihar, if the opposition’s Mahagadbandhan or INDIA bloc comes to power in November 6 & 11 polls. Results will be out on November 14.
Tejashwi Yadav, born on November 9, 1989, a 10th class dropout from Delhi Public School, RK Puram, in Delhi. He played cricket at league levels. Currently, the opposition leader in Bihar assembly and earlier held two times the post of deputy CM in Nitish Kumar led JDU-RJD government. He married to his friend Rajashree Yadav in 2021. Now he is contesting from Raghopur assembly seat.
After weeks of wrangling and intense deliberations, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was announced as the Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate at a press conference that the opposition turned into a show of strength. Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani, who drove a hard bargain during seat-sharing talks, was declared the deputy chief ministerial candidate.
‘He has long future ahead’: Gehlot
“After discussions with all senior leaders, we have decided that Tejashwi Yadav will be the CM face of Mahagathbandhan in the upcoming Bihar polls. He has a long future ahead,” senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who was rushed to Patna as a troubleshooter amid fissures in the Mahagathbandhan, said.
Gehlot said apart from Sahani, who wields influence in the Nishad community, another backward class leader would be made the deputy CM if the INDIA bloc came to power in Bihar. The announcement, coming just two weeks ahead of polls, gives Tejashwi and the Grand Alliance parties little time to get their act together and start a full-fledged campaign unitedly.
However, the press conference also had its share of controversies. Rahul Gandhi’s picture was missing from the posters at the venue, prompting the BJP to mock the Congress.
Tejashwi thanks Sonia, Rahul
Tejashwi thanked Sonia Gandhi and Rahul for naming him as the face of the alliance. The Congress had so far refrained from projecting Tejashwi as the chief ministerial face despite the visible camaraderie between the RJD leader and Rahul during the Voter Adhikar Yatra.
“We, the leaders of the Mahagathbandhan, do not just want to form the government or become the CM, but we want to work for Bihar… We will work together to kick out NDA’s double engine government, whose one engine is corruption and other engine is crime,” Tejashwi said.
However, the Mahagathbandhan leaders did not clear the air on seat-sharing arrangements, with around 10 seats seeing overlapping nominations. It appears there will be friendly contests in these seats and whoever wins will be part of the future government, in case the combine majority in the 243 seat House.