Patna (Bihar) [India], October 23 : The Mahagathbandhan on Thursday cleared the air regarding their lead face of their alliance, as Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav was declared as Chief Ministerial face of the Opposition.
The move was announced during a joint Mahagathbandhan press briefing in Patna on Thursday which consists of top leaders of the alliance Congress' Ashok Gehlot, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, Vikassheel Insaan Party's Mukesh Sahani and CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. Apart from Tejashwi, Sahani was declared as the alliance's Deputy CM nominee for the state polls.
While making the announcement, Ashok Gehlot described Tejashwi Yadav as a young person, highlighting his promising future and affirming the people of Bihar's support for him.
"Everyone should be worried (about the situation in the country). This is why I can say that after consulting Kharge ji, Rahul ji, and others who are sitting here, that Tejashwi Yadav is the CM candidate for this election. He is a young person. He has a long future and the public will support him," Gehlot said while addressing a press conference here.
Following his declaration as the Mahagathbandhan's CM candidate, Tejashwi Yadav stated that all parties have come together for the advancement of Bihar. He asserted that the Opposition's Mahagathbandhan will together throw out the "useless" 20-year-old double-engine government in the state.
"We, the people of Mahagathbandhan, do not just want to form the government or become the CM, but we want to make Bihar, which is why we are together. I thank all the members of the Mahagathbandhan for showing trust in me. I want to assure all of them that I will do everything possible to meet your expectations. Together, we will throw the useless 20-year-old double-engine government, where one engine is corrupt. The other is criminal," Yadav, who is currently the Bihar Leader of Opposition (LoP), said while addressing a press conference here.
Launching a scathing attack on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Tejashwi said that they haven't held a single joint press conference to announce their CM face.
"Gehlot rightly said that not even a single joint press conference has been held by the NDA. At least we did that apart from holding many meetings together. Injustice is being done to Nitish Kumar in the NDA. No official announcement has been made for their CM face," Yadav said.
Following Tejashwi Yadav's announcement as Mahagathbandhan's face for the Bihar elections, the National Democratic Alliance came out heavy at the RJD leader, claiming that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) "tortured" Congress and other parties in the Mahagathbandhan to declare RJD leader as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the alliance for the upcoming Assembly polls.
Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary alleged that the RJD fielded candidates against Congress and alliance partners to force them to accept Tejashwi as the CM face.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Samrat Choudhary said, "Lalu Yadav declared the CM face of Mahagathbandhan through hooliganism and torturing Congress and other parties, by fielding candidates against them, just the way they spread 'jungle raj' in Bihar."
Meanwhile, BJP MP Ravi Shankar, taking a jibe at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for not including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's photo in the posters at the Mahagathbandhan press conference, which was held earlier in the day, asserted that the opposition alliance here is "very weak" with parties involved in friendly fights.
Addressing the press conference in Patna, Prasad said, "Today we saw that Rahul Gandhi's photo was missing from that press conference. Every party's symbol was there, but Rahul Gandhi's photo was missing. What kind of alliance is this? There are 243 seats, and the alliance is contesting on 255 seats. And there's one seat, Gaura Bauram Assembly. Both the would-be CM and Deputy CM are contesting there. This is a very weak alliance."
Lok Janshakti (Ram Vilas) Chief Chirag Paswan said on Thursday that there is no "natural acceptance" of Yadav's face within the opposition's alliance. Speaking to the media, Paswan questioned the unity within the Mahagathbandhan, asking whether Tejashwi became the face of the coalition through "fighting, quarrelling, and pleading" or by "instilling fear."
"After so much fighting, quarrelling, and pleading, or by instilling fear somewhere, if you have been accepted as the chief ministerial face, what kind of acceptance is that... If you have become the CM face after so much conflict, it means there is no natural acceptance of your face within the alliance," Chirag Paswan said.
The 2025 Bihar elections will have the main contest between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan. NDA includes the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.
Mahagathbandhan, led by Rashtriya Janata Dal, includes Congress party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and Mukesh Sahani's Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).
Additionally, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj has staked claims to all 243 seats in the state. The Assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The results will be declared on November 14.