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Patna, Oct 23 (IANS) After weeks of intense infighting and uncertainty, the Grand Alliance in Bihar has finally declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial face for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Tejashwi Yadav’s name was announced as the chief ministerial face during the joint press conference of the alliance at Hotel Maurya in Patna.
This announcement was made by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the presence of leaders of the constituent parties of the alliance.
Gehlot said, “Tejashwi Yadav is young and a person of commitment. He has fulfilled his promises. He has a long career. Therefore, we have decided to contest this election under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav. He will be the face of our chief ministerial post.”
Gehlot also announced the name of Mukesh Sahni as the face for the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
This decision comes after a long dispute between the constituent parties – especially RJD and Congress – over the seat sharing system and CM face.
As per the final formula, RJD will contest 143 seats while maintaining its strong presence on the ground, especially among the Muslim-Yadav (MY) voter base.
The Grand Alliance faced heavy criticism for failing to resolve internal differences even as the nomination deadline for the second phase approached.
The primary impasse arose due to the Congress party’s demand to contest 70 seats, the same number of seats it had contested in the 2020 assembly elections – a performance year in which it won only 19 seats, and recorded a strike rate of only 27 per cent.
Sources said that RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav was not ready to give so many seats this time citing the previous poor performance of Congress.
The situation reached its peak earlier this week, forcing the Congress high command to intervene.
The party sent former Rajasthan Chief Minister and Bihar election in-charge Ashok Gehlot to Patna to mediate between the top leadership of the two parties.
Gehlot met Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, and Tejashwi Yadav at the RJD chief’s residence on Wednesday.
After the meeting, Gehlot announced that all issues have been resolved and the alliance will fight the Bihar elections together.
After the meeting, Gehlot told reporters, “Everything is fine within the grand alliance. We will fight this election together with full strength and unity. We have resolved the issues of friendly fighting on some seats.”
The second major issue of controversy was regarding the candidate for the post of Chief Minister.
While the RJD and other allies, such as CPI-ML, CPI, CPI(M), and VIP had already supported Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face of the alliance, the Congress had said that the question of leadership should be decided after the election results.
However, after high-level deliberations, the Grand Alliance partners have now formally introduced Tejashwi Yadav as their chief ministerial candidate.
Political analysts see the move as a significant boost to the Grand Alliance’s campaign, especially among youth and backward caste voters.
The announcement is also being seen as an attempt to counter the unified front of the NDA led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
With the alliance’s internal disputes now resolved, all eyes are on how effectively the Grand Alliance can take its united campaign to the people of Bihar in the coming weeks.
–IANS
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