Bihar Assembly Polls: ‘No Confusion In Mahagathbandhan Over Tejashwi As CM Face’

Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday (June 27, 2025) said if the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ gets a majority in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, the Chief Minister will be from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and added that there was “no confusion or dispute” over Tejashwi Yadav being the main face for the CM’s post.

“There is absolute clarity on this...one by one things are happening in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ as part of the process. A media group has been formed by all the parties, a manifesto committee has been formed, all the parties will decide the seats together,” he said.

However, Kanhaiya Kumar asserted that the elections would be driven by key issues, alleging a “conspiracy” by rivals to divert public attention by repeatedly raising the matter of the coalition’s CM face. He further claimed that the BJP would replace Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with its own leader at the first opportunity it gets.

“This is a conspiracy which we understand. There is no confusion and no doubt that the chief minister will be from the bigger party, it will be done automatically as part of the process. But what is important in the polls, are issues and not the face,” Kumar told PTI.

Kumar alleged that the BJP is following its standard template, to first take the support of a regional party and then “slowly swallow it”.

In an interview with PTI, he said the “winds of change” in Bihar are stronger than during the last assembly elections. 

He added that the BJP is avoiding making Operation Sindoor a poll issue, knowing that the people of Bihar view it as a matter of national honour and would react negatively to any attempt to politicise it.

When Asked how many seats the Congress will contest in the polls, Mr. Kumar said every party of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, even the Congress, will contest on all 243 seats as a unit. He further emphasized that everyone will fulfil their own responsibilities whether big or small.  

“If there is a pinch of salt less, the food will be tasteless and if there is a pinch of salt more, the food will not taste good. So everyone will play their role,” he added.

On the question of whether RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav was the top contender for the post of Chief Minister if the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ comes to power, “There is no doubt about it. The public decides who will become the chief minister. The one who has the numbers will become the chief minister”, Mr. Kumar said.

Adding to this, he claimed that confusion persists within the NDA ranks regarding whether Nitish Kumar will be projected as the chief ministerial face and how seat-sharing will be decided among the parties. 

He emphasized that people’s issues should be central to the election, but there is a deliberate attempt to divert attention from them by repeatedly raising questions about the CM face.

“After the election, when the public will give a majority to the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, the RJD will contest more seats and win more, the chief minister will also be from that party,” he said.

Commenting on speculation over Nitish Kumar’s health and the BJP’s future strategy, the Congress leader alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah is an expert in finding “opportunities in disaster (aapda mein awsar)”.

“See what happened in Maharashtra. He brought (Eknath) Shinde ji from the Shiv Sena and made him the chief minister. Then he removed him and made his own person the CM. It is not that he is trying this when Nitish ji is ill, he has tried it earlier also.

The BJP has been trying to do this continuously in Bihar but has failed, he claimed.

Exuding confidence that the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ would get a clear majority, Kumar said issues of unemployment, migration, education, farmers, rigging in examinations, and poor health infrastructure are cardinal.

Mr. Kumar claimed that he expects the people to vote for change as the government is now being run by bureaucrats in a “dictatorial manner”.

In the last assembly polls, the RJD, the largest constituent of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, contested 144 seats and won 75 seats in the 243-seat assembly. 

The Congress had contested 70 seats, but it won only 19 seats. The CPI (ML) Liberation contested 19 seats and won 12 as part of the alliance. The Bihar Assembly polls are likely to take place around October-November.