NEW DELHI: RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday launched ‘Bihar Adhikar Yatra’ from Jehanabad to raise pitch against Nitish Kumar-led NDA government over issues of unemployment and increasing crime incidents among others ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. Interestingly, Tejashwi’s solo yatra comes close on the heels of the much-hyped “Voter Adhikaar Yatra” which included all Mahagathbandhan leaders and was led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Tejashwi was part of the Voter Adhikaar Yatra, but the limelight was hogged by Rahul – who has been leading a campaign against alleged vote theft across the country accusing the Election Commission of helping the BJP. The RJD, which is going all out to dethrone Nitish Kumar led NDA government in the state, asserted that Tejasjwi’s yatra will cover districts which were left out in the ‘Voter Adhikaar Yatra’. “After the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, some districts were left out. All our workers and leaders from these districts demanded that these areas should be covered, so Tejashwi ji took the decision to take out this yatra respecting their feelings,” RJD MP Sanjay Yadav said yesterday when asked about the launch of the yatra.However, the fact that this new yatra comes amid an ongoing debate over Mahagathbandhan’s CM face and also inconclusive seat-sharing talks makes one wonder if the RJD leader has other objectives in mind also. Recently, the RJD leader had surprised all when during a rally in Muzaffarpur he pronounced: “And this time, Tejashwi will contest all 243 seats, whether it is Muzaffarpur, Kanti or Bochahan.”Tejashwi’s remarks, more than anything, was perhaps an attempt to stamp his pre-eminence as the leader of the opposition alliance across the state. So, the question is why was such an assertion needed in the first place? After all, RJD is the largest party in the alliance and in the last elections had won 75 seats, which was the highest as it was one more than BJP’s tally.However, as the opposition alliance gears up for the assembly elections, the Congress has refused to openly endorse Tejashwi as Mahagathbandhan’s CM face. During the “Voter Adhikaar Yatra”, when Rahul Gandhi was pointedly asked why Congress was not endorsing Tejaswhi as the CM face, he evaded a direct reply and instead spoke of a good understanding between the partners. This, despite the fact, that Tejashwi had earlier openly announced that Rahul would become the Prime Minister once the opposition won the next Lok Sabha elections. When asked why the Congress was not backing Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial face in Bihar, Rahul Gandhi said: “A very strong partnership had been forged. All the parties (in the bloc) are working in sync. There’s no tension, and there’s mutual respect to help each other as we are ideologically and politically aligned. The result will be good. But the vote theft needs to be stopped.”Rahul’s reply was clearly a calculated and clever deflection of announcing party’s stand on the leadership issue in Bihar. The Congress leader, riding high on his successful “vote chori” campaign, was perhaps not willing to lose the bargaining chip so easily. The seat-sharing talks are underway and all parties are posturing for a higher share. In the 2020 assembly elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal had contested 144 seats and won 75. The Congress had the worst strike rate as it contested 70 seats but won only 19. In fact, the Left parties had performed very well with the CPI-ML winning 12 out of 19, CPM 2 out of 4 and CPI 2 out of 6.This time around more parties have joined the opposition alliance and hence seat-sharing will not be an easy exercise. Already there are reports of pressure on both the RJD and the Congress to reduce their share so that other parties can be accommodated.While the Congress in Bihar is in no position to question his leadership within the alliance, they can pile pressure on the RJD during seat sharing talks. This, perhaps, explains why RJD and its leader Tejashwi have embarked on a campaign to ensure their pre-eminence in the alliance is not questioned.
