Mahagathbandhan names Tejashwi as CM face

After weeks of wrangling and intense deliberations, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was announced as the Mahagathbandhan's chief ministerial candidate at a press conference. Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani, who drove a hard bargain during seat-sharing talks, was declared the deputy chief ministerial candidate.

"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. He 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. The two-phase elections in Bihar will be held on November 6 and 11, with results to be announced on November 14.

Tejashwi, who will contest from his traditional Raghopur seat, 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.

However, the Mahagathbandhan leaders did not clear the air on seat-sharing arrangements, with around 10 seats seeing overlapping nominations. The RJD, the dominant party in the bloc, has fielded 143 candidates, while the Congress is contesting 61 seats. The remaining seats are being shared among the CPI(ML), Sahani's VIP, and smaller allies.

With Tejashwi named as the face of the Mahagathbandhan, the alliance used the opportunity to turn heat on the NDA to declare its chief ministerial candidate. The RJD leader dared the NDA to publicly name JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar, who has faced questions over his health, as its CM candidate.

Later in the day, Union Minister Giriraj Singh claimed that Nitish Kumar was and remained the face of the NDA in Bihar.