Tejashwi on trial

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.

- PANKAJ VOHRA

‘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.