Tejashwi as CM face? Allies unsure
NEW DELHI: Trouble appears to be brewing in the mahagathbandhan, or grand alliance, in Bihar over its chief ministerial candidate for the assembly elections later this year.
The Congress has suggested a state-wide survey to identify the face of the alliance after some of its leaders voiced their opposition to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav’s name.
At a virtual meeting between former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Bihar Congress leaders, veteran Nikhil Kumar and legislative party leader Sadanand Singh expressed opposition to the move to project Tejwashwi as the CM face, according to people familiar with the development.
The RJD had projected 30-year-old Tejashwi as the CM candidate of the grand alliance after its national council meeting passed a resolution in Patna on December 10, 2019.
The ruling Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine has decided to fight the 2020 assembly polls under chief minister Nitish Kumar’s leadership. Elections are due in the 243-member Bihar assembly in October-November.
A Congress leader, who attended the meeting with Gandhi, said on the condition of anonymity that both Kumar and Singh argued that the move will alienate upper castes who “despise RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi for their strong bias against forward castes”. The party’s Bihar in-charge, Shaktisinh Gohil, then suggested that a state-wide survey be conducted, and insisted that the grand alliance go by the popular choice.
The issue has earlier been flagged by three constituents of the grouping — Hindustani Awam Morcha leader and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha and Vikassheel Insaan Party president Mukesh Sahani. They have repeatedly been saying the RJD took the decision unilaterally.
At its meeting on Friday, the Congress rejected suggestions to go it alone in the assembly elections. Senior leader Kishore Kumar Jha said the Congress should deal with the RJD on “equal terms” as far as seat-sharing is concerned. At the meeting, another leader, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, claimed that Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and Union minister -Ram Vilas Paswan is in touch with him and that he is unhappy in the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
However, Bihar LJP leader Hula Pandey rejected the claim. “We have always seen that whoever we support goes on to form the government. They (Congress) are just daydreaming,” he said.
National spokesperson of the RJD and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha : “First of all on speculative issues, we don’t need to comment. But the fact when you choose who shall lead you, the substantial issues are data back up of vote share. “