By declaring Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial face for the Bihar Assembly polls, the Congress and the rest of allies in the I.N.D.I.A bloc, have actually put Lalu Prasad Yadav’s political heir on trial. In addition, Mukesh Sahani, of the Viakssheel Insaan Party (VIP) is being projected as the potential deputy CM.
There was never any doubt that Tejashwi was always going to be the principal challenger to Nitish Kumar, who however, despite his high ratings and popularity amongst women and sections of the economically backward castes, is not necessarily going to be the CM face. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made it clear that the NDA was contesting the polls under the overall leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, but in the event of an NDA victory, the coalition partners and the newly elected MLAs would decide on who would lead them in the future.
It is true that there have been many setbacks in the two main alliances pitted against each other, and a lot would depend on which formation is able to streamline its actions prior to the crucial polls. Bihar has always been a complex political ground where alliances and castes have always played a major role. The Congress, after 1990, has not been able to come to power and even the BJP, which is ruling the Centre and many states for the past 11 years, is dependent on alliances so far as Bihar is concerned. Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) is in no position to go it alone and even the mighty RJD has been finding the going tough in the past few elections.
Even though it was obvious that so far as the Mahagathbandhan leadership question was concerned, Tejashwi was the lone contender. However, he had been reluctant to begin with, and many Bihar experts claimed that it was due to the fact that he knew that his party would find it very difficult to get past the halfway mark. Like in every election, there are conspiracy theories which have come up, and many believe that for Tejashwi, getting the name of his parents cleared in the multiple cases they are facing was the topmost priority.
The realization within was that even if he was not going to be projected, his candidacy for the top position was a foregone conclusion. And in any case, in the event of a loss, no one could take away the position of the Leader of Opposition from him. He would be the LoP for five years and the next time there would be no Nitish in active politics or for that matter many old faces may fade away.
Therefore, his entire attitude and actions vis-à -vis his alliance partners were not consistent with someone wanting to be the CM. He had annoyed the Congress, which in any case may end up in single digits in the polls, the VIP and the JMM besides the Left parties. He had adopted his father’s bullying tactics to get his way, which he was unable to in many constituencies.
The Congress, which is plagued by its organizational limitations, still knows how to play politics when it is required. Its pleas to Tejashwi to withdraw nominees against its official candidates in some areas did not cut much ice, but the party started playing for the second round, even before the first had ended.
In a deft move, made to appear like a unifying effort, the Congress declared Tejashwi as the CM face. The move is likely to now put a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of Lalu’s son. The meeting where the announcement was made had prominent leaders from each party, but the posters at the venue had only Tejashwi on them, at least this is what was shown on TV channels.
In other words, the projection in political terms means that Tejashwi was given an opportunity, and if he fails, the onus of the defeat of the I.N.D.I.A bloc would squarely rest on his shoulders and not on those of Rahul Gandhi or any other Congress leader. The defeat would also spell out that the next time around, Tejashwi may lose the right to be the leader of the formation, if such an arrangement continues.
Sections of media have been reporting that there would be friendly fights between I.N.D.I.A bloc allies in many segments. However, it needs to be understood that there is no such thing as friendly fight in any election. Everyone is there to win.
In Vaishali, the Congress has fielded Sanjeev Singh, a Bhumihar, who had lost by a narrow margin to the JD(U) nominee in 2020. The RJD has put up Ajay Khushwa, who had also lost the last time. Sanjeev Singh’s was the lone ticket, which was asked for by D.K. Shivakumar, deputy CM of Karnataka, who is believed to have provided funds to the party for the polls. The point is that both Sanjeev and Ajay face the prospects of a defeat by contesting the polls despite the alliance.
So far as Mahagathbandhan is concerned, there are also numerous problems. The CM face is one. As Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj Party stated in an interview that the BJP continues to be a party dependent mainly on the upper caste votes. The choices for the people are very limited. They may ultimately end up settling for either a ninth pass, Tejashwi Yadav or a tenth fail Samrat Chowdhury.
The answer is blowing in the wind. Between us.
