We will make sure no one from Bihar needs to migrate

AFTER WEEKS OF BACKROOM negotiations, the grand alliance announced Tejashwi Yadav, 35, as its chief ministerial candidate, making him the principal challenger in the Bihar assembly election. The RJD's star campaigner and inheritor of his father's social justice legacy, Tejashwi has broadened his appeal to include jobs and development—what he calls “economic justice”.

- PRATUL SHARMA

We met Tejashwi a day after he was announced as the CM face at his 1 Polo Road residence in Patna. The room reflected his ideological world: portraits of Jyotiba Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, Guru Ravidas, Mahatma Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Ram Manohar Lohia shared space with large framed photographs of his parents, Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. Idols of Krishna and Tirupati Balaji, along with a bust of Shivaji, dotted the shelves.

Personal memorabilia added warmth—family photographs spanning three generations, from a young Lalu and Rabri to Tejashwi's wife and newborn child, and a cricket bat that hinted at his first passion. A wall map of Bihar's constituencies and a row of solar lanterns, the RJD's election symbol, lent the room a campaign urgency.

Relaxed, self-assured and dressed in a black T-shirt emblazoned with his party's symbol and name, he said, “I'm in this for the long haul. What I say, I'll do.” Excerpts from the first exclusive interview after he was announced the alliance's CM candidate:

The grand alliance announced you as chief ministerial candidate after quite a delay. You are up against a chief minister who has been in power for 20 years. When Nitish Kumar arrived, he spoke about change. Now you are talking about change. What change are we looking at?

Our alliance has at least officially announced a chief minister face. The NDA hasn't done that. In fact, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has clearly said that the MLAs will choose the chief minister after the elections. So, we are already ahead of them.