DC Edit | Bihar Polls: INDIA United on CM Face at Last Minute

The anointment of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial face of the Mahagathbandhan and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) leader Mukesh Sahani as one of his deputies was important for the Opposition which is locked in a do-or-die electoral fight against the NDA in Bihar not because it answers a possible question post-election but will help the alliance project an impression that the bickering over the number of seats is behind them and that they are united in their political project of unseating the NDA from power.

Given that Mr Yadav was the leader of the largest party in the Opposition formation and that he had served as the deputy to chief minister Nitish Kumar for the brief period that their parties were together should, however, have prompted the Mahagathbandhan to make the announcement long ago. The Left parties including the CPI(ML) had little objection to such an arrangement. But the Congress was not comfortable. The grand old party is in fact yet to come to terms with the reality that there are parties other than itself that can decide the fate of an election in several states. That made it avoid until now this all-important question. Sadly, the fact that it has been dependent on the support of dozens of its allies during its last stint at the Centre has not taught its leaders any lesson; they still think they are the natural party of governance in India. This refusal to accommodate the claims of alliance partners in fact cost the party the chance to win elections in several states. That the party benefited from alliances it forged across the nation during the Lok Sabha election, too, did little to change that mindset.

The Mahagathbandhan has now succeeded in retaining the VIP in the alliance but it lost an important partner when the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha quit the hustings in Bihar and walked out of the INDIA bloc. JMM’s Hemant Soren is one of the very few chief ministers belonging to the INDIA bloc and it was the responsibility of the Congress, as the leader of the alliance, to ensure its ally’s interests are protected in Bihar, too. The alliance must try and get the party back onboard. It is important not only in the Bihar context but also on the national level.

Given that the Jan Suraj Party of Prasanth Kishore is making its presence felt and the elections are going to be a close contest, every single ally and every seat they win count. The NDA realised this earlier and kept its flock together. It was not that every ally in the ruling front was excited about the seat-sharing formula but the well-oiled BJP leadership, the best election managers in these times, convinced them. The saffron party has put in place a mechanism that leaves no stone unturned in its search for election victories.

Now that the battle lines are drawn, the people of one of the most backward states in the country will look up to a formation that can deliver them the fruits of development and democracy. Politics apart, the state needs a government that takes it out of the abyss it finds itself in and improves the lives of its people.