Bihar Assembly polls: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is Opposition's CM face

PM is slated to launch his election campaign today by addressing a public meeting in Samastipur

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Hours after the INDIA bloc, the Opposition front, on Thursday declared Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav its chief ministerial candidate for the Bihar Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers to ensure older voters tell the youth about the “atrocities” during the “jungle raj” that prevailed in Bihar.

 

The Prime Minister is slated to launch his election campaign in Bihar on Friday by addressing a public meeting in Samastipur. The venue of the meeting has significant political symbolism. Karpoori Thakur, twice chief minister and an icon of backward-class assertion, represented the Assembly constituency in the Assembly (1980-85).

 

In January last year, the Union government conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously on Thakur, which also marked his centenary. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who leads the Janata Dal (United), had then congratulated the Centre on it, and days later he parted ways with the grand alliance to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). With the BJP falling short of the majority mark in the Lok Sabha polls, the JDU, along with the Telugu Desam Party, emerged as two key allies of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

 

Over the past two decades, the JDU-BJP coalition has sought to paint the period between 1990 and 2005, when either Lalu Prasad or his wife, Rabri Devi, was chief minister, “jungle raj”, allegedly a period of lawlessness.

 

However, the JDU-BJP coalition, which has ruled Bihar for the most part since 2005, has increasingly faced criticisms of failing to create jobs for the youth and allegations of deteriorating law and order in the state.

 

In a virtual interaction with BJP workers on the eve of his Samastipur rally, Modi said the people would not forget the “jungle raj” in Bihar for another hundred years. He said the youth would play a key role, and promised a new era of empowerment for Bihar’s women when the NDA returned to power.

 

As for the INDIA bloc, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot has spent the past couple of days in Patna, meeting the RJD leadership, including Lalu Prasad, to resolve the tangle over seat sharing. The constituents of the bloc have fielded candidates against each other in at least eight of the 243 seats.

 

Until now, the Congress leadership had resisted the RJD’s demand to declare Tejashwi Yadav the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance because it was wary that sections of the substantial (36 per cent) Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and 20 per cent Scheduled Castes might turn away from the alliance.

 

Now declaring Yadav the CM face, the Congress hopes, would end the squabbles within the alliance with Bihar slated to vote on November 6 and 11.

 

Gehlot said Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi were on board in the matter.

 

Addressing the media in Patna, Gehlot also said Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni and leaders from other sections of society would be deputy chief minister if the INDIA bloc came to power in the state, “keeping in mind the complex social structure of Bihar”.

 

Tejashwi Yadav thanked his allies for reposing his trust in him again. “It was not a big issue for us, but since there was so much media speculation, we decided to make it clear,” he said.

 

On allegations of “jungle raj”, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having on earlier occasions described him as the “crown prince of jungle raj”, he said, “I would like to tell the people of Bihar that Tejashwi will never compromise on corruption and will spare nobody accused of a crime, be it his own shadow or anyone with influence.”

 

The RJD leader accused the BJP of indulging in “propaganda” when under the JDU-BJP rule “not a day passes that murders and rapes do not take place. Victims of sexual assault die for want of timely medical help”.

 

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera asked the NDA to announce the name of its chief minister if it were to form the government.

 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said the coalition would contest the Assembly polls “under the leadership” of Nitish Kumar, but “the legislators would decide” who will occupy the top post after the elections.

 

Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary alleged that RJD supremo Lalu Prasad “arm-twisted” the Congress and other INDIA bloc allies by “fielding candidates against them” to install his son Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming assembly polls.