Tejashwi and Kharge meet to finetune alliance, CM face decision still not final

Leader of the opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Tuesday stated in New Delhi that the chief ministerial face of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the state would be resolved in consultation with the coalition partners.

Tejashwi made this assertion after meeting with top congress leaders including All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge and opposition leader in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Delhi ahead of the crucial April 17 meeting with INDIA bloc partners in Patna.

After attending an hour-long meeting also attended by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha members Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav, Tejashwi said they had positive discussion (on electoral strategy). “We (INDIA partners) are well prepared and have strong resolve to take forward Bihar, which has been treated step-motherly by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the state for the past 21 years,” said Tejaswhi.

The meeting was also attended by Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Rajesh Kumar and AICC in-charge for Bihar Krishna Allavaru. However, none of the Congress leaders said anything about discussions in the meeting. Allavaru is the one leader, who had refused to toe the RJD line of projecting Tejashwi as the CM face of INDIA in the assembly elections, due in October-November this year.

“We have discussed various aspects of poll strategies, which we did not wish to share with the media,” while hitting out at the Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar-led dispensations at the Centre and in the state for exacerbating miseries of Bihar. “Bihar remains the most poor state despite the 20-year regime of the NDA. Per capita income of Bihar is the lowest and farmers’ income is at the ebb and migration has gone up at the highest level,” said the RJD leader.

To a query regarding the CM’s face, Tejashwi clarified that journalists shall not be worried about it. “We will let you know, when we will decide the issue in consultation with the alliance partners later,” said the RJD leader.

Congress party insiders said that a broad outline for seat-sharing and campaign strategy have been discussed at the meeting, which would be fine-tuned at April 17 meeting in Patna with leaders of INDIA, including those of the left parties and Mukesh Sahni-led Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). “It was an initial discussion and the final number of seats to be allocated among the allies will be decided at the highest level later,” said a senior Congress leader, adding that the Congress party did not have any issues in fighting the elections under Tejashwi’s leadership. The Congress leader said that the party would contest a ‘reasonable and respectable’ number of seats, particularly after increased activities of senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Kharge, Allavaru and Kanhaiya Kumar.

Unlike the past experience, the Congress party is said to be taking decisions regarding Bihar strategy in consultation with the local leaders to bridge the disconnect between the AICC and the BPCC. Last time, the Congress had got 70 seats to contest under alliance with the RJD and was blamed for the electoral disaster, as it managed to win only 19 seats. However, Congress leaders said that the party lost the elections, as it was allotted tough seats which the party was not prepared for and had no experience of contesting for decades.

In a video message shared on his X handle, JD(U) MLC and spokesman Neeraj Kumar said, “Tejashwi Yadav has been put on the waiting list by Congress. His father Lalu Prasad, the RJD president, had been cajoling the Congress to declare his son as the CM candidate. It looks as if a student wants to be declared the topper before appearing for the exam”.

Kumar added, “Lalu Prasad has become a cripple, politically. A reason why it is putting up with the insult from the Congress. We wonder what happened to the RJD’s political conscience”.

Reacting to the meeting, national general secretary of BJP OBC Morcha Nikhil Anand claimed that the RJD is averse to the growing influence of Purnia MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and Kanhaiya Kumar in the Congress. “Pappu Yadav attended the Congress session in Ahmedabad as an independent candidate, whereas RJD’s discomfort with Kanhaiya Kumar’s political Yatra in Bihar is well known. These developments have irked the RJD,” alleged Anand.

Congress seeks judicial inquiry in bridges’ vulnerability

Congress legislature party leader in the assembly Shakeel Ahmad Khan on Tuesday demanded a high-level inquiry headed by a sitting judge of Patna high court into the growing vulnerability of bridges at a press conference at the BPCC office.

The conference was held in the light of cracks in the newly inaugurated section of Loknayak Ganga Path or Marine drive. Cracks surfaced in Deedarganj section of ₹3,800-cr Marine Drive, days after it was inaugurated by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Alleging rampant corruption in construction of bridges, Khan claimed that dozens of bridges were damaged and washed away last year, yet no accountability was fixed. Congress leader in Bihar legislative council Madan Mohan Jha raised questions on the corrupt administrative system in Bihar and said that CM Nitish Kumar, who is in the lap of BJP, has given free hand to the administrative officers to loot the state coffer. “Damage to the bridges in the corrupt government is proof of Nitish BJP government being neck deep in corruption,” alleged Jha.