PATNA: RJD scion Tejashwi Yadav’s long wait to be officially declared INDIA bloc’s CM face in Bihar looked set to end after Congress’s designated troubleshooter, Ashok Gehlot, and the party’s state in-charge Krishna Allavaru met him and his father Lalu Prasad in Patna Wednesday to break a stalemate that has dragged into the business end of elections.Congress kept mum on the outcome of the meeting, but ally CPI(ML)’s general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, suggested patience was running out within the alliance over the delay in declaring what he said was a no-brainer.“Tejashwi’s name as the opposition’s CM candidate could be officially announced at INDIA bloc’s joint press conference on Thursday. Entire Bihar knows Tejashwi will be the CM if INDIA bloc gets majority,” Bhattacharya said.“Our meeting with Lalu was highly positive. INDIA bloc is united and contesting the elections as a strong force. The full situation will be clarified at the presser,” Gehlot said, emerging from the meeting, along with Tejashwi.
All confusion over CM face will end today, says Gehlot
Ashok Gehlot, however, declined to go beyond proclaiming that “all confusion” would end at Thursday’s press conference.Congress has so far been cagey about naming Tejashwi as INDIA bloc’s unanimous pick, refusing to reciprocate the latter’s move of publicly acknowledging Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi as the alliance’s prime ministerial face for the next general elections. “Tejashwi becoming CM is as straight a choice as Nitish Kumar not becoming the CM again,” Bhattacharya said.On INDIA bloc allies contesting against each other in some places because of the seat-sharing dispute, Gehlot rejected the idea that “friendly fights” within INDIA bloc were an issue. “Such things are normal. Bihar wants a change, and people understand that our victory is in interest of the country,” he said.Allavaru, blamed for the mess, said Congress was “serious” about the assembly polls.Earlier in the day, Tejashwi downplayed talk of alliance being fragmented. “There is no controversy or confusion in INDIA bloc…Will talk tomorrow. You will get an answer to every question,” he said.The INDIA bloc brass was last seen together at the launch of ‘Ati Pichhda EBC Sankalp Patra’ in Patna on Sept 24. On that occasion, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul, Tejashwi and Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani were present.Prior to that, the group travelled together during Rahul’s fortnight-long Voter Adhikar Yatra that passed through 25-odd districts.
