NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday asserted that there was “no confusion” regarding the chief ministerial face in the Mahagathbandhan alliance ahead of the Bihar assembly election.Kicking off his “Bihar Adhikar Yatra,” Tejashwi said the opposition will announce its CM face when the right time comes.”There is no confusion in our alliance. The people are the owners of Bihar and they make the chief minister. This time, they want a change. Go and ask any person in Bihar whom they want to see (as chief minister), the answer will be received,” the RJD leader said.”But there is no confusion regarding the chief minister’s face in our alliance, and it will be announced when the time comes,” he added.Earlier, the former deputy chief minister appealed to the people of the state and said they should vote in all 243 constituencies in his name.”This time, Tejashwi will contest all 243 seats. Whether it is Bochahan or Muzaffarpur, Tejashwi will fight. My appeal to all of you is to vote in my name. Tejashwi will work towards taking Bihar forward… All of us should work together and unseat this government,” Tejashwi had said. During the “Voter Adhikar Yatra,” Tejashwi had declared himself as the CM face of the opposition INDIA bloc.Addressing the rally in Ara town, the last stopover of the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra,’ Tejashwi questioned the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar for “frequently copying his ideas” and described it as a “copycat government.”Ridiculing the government for copying his ideas, he said that at present he was moving ahead while the government was behind him.”Tejashwi aage-aage, sarkar pichhe-pichhe. Original CM chahiye ki duplicate?” (Tejashwi is moving ahead while the government is following him from behind. Do you want a duplicate CM or the original CM?), Tejashwi asked the crowd.This comes as the seat-sharing negotiations for the high-stakes assembly elections have become even trickier for the opposition, with two new parties — Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Pashupati Paras’s LJP faction — joining the Mahagathbandhan alliance.The situation is getting more complex as major parties are firm on their seat demands. The 243 seats will now be divided among eight parties — Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, CPI, CPM, VIP, LJP (Paras), and JMM.Meanwhile, TOI earlier reported that Congress insists it cannot go below 70 seats.VIP chief Mukesh Sahani, on the other hand, has demanded “60 seats plus the post of deputy CM,” while the CPI-ML is pressing for at least 40 seats, citing its past performance.The RJD is also unwilling to contest on fewer than 150 seats.In the 2020 assembly elections:
- Rashtriya Janata Dal contested 144 seats and won 75.
- Congress won 19 out of 70 seats.
- CPI-ML contested 19 seats and won 12.
- CPM contested 4 seats and won 2.
- CPI contested 6 seats and won 2
