Bihar polls: Top takeaways from Tejashwi and Rahul’s strategy meeting

New Delhi: With high stakes in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, Mahagathbandhan alliance leaders convened on Tuesday to mount a united fight against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The meeting, held at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, saw Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, along with RJD MPs Manoj Jha and Sanjay Yadav, engage with senior Congress figures, including Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, to chart a path forward for the INDIA bloc.

Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy chief minister of Bihar, emphasised the alliance’s commitment to crafting a cohesive strategy, revealing plans to hold further discussions in Patna to finalise their electoral approach.

“The Congress and the RJD will sit in Patna to finalise a strategy, and the INDIA bloc is committed to taking Bihar on the path of progress,” Yadav told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting comes amid indications of intense internal dynamics within the Mahagathbandhan, particularly around seat-sharing and leadership decisions.

Sources suggest that hard bargaining is on the horizon, with each ally looking to maximize its influence in the 243-seat Bihar assembly.

The RJD, as the largest partner in the alliance with 80 seats in the 2020 assembly elections, is expected to demand a lion’s share of constituencies, while the Congress, which contested nine seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls under the Mahagathbandhan banner, is keen to expand its footprint.

The Left parties, also part of the alliance, will likely push for a significant number of seats, adding complexity to the negotiations.

“The constituents will talk among themselves and decide,” Yadav said, sidestepping media speculation about the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate, a decision that remains a potential flashpoint given the ambitions of each partner.

The RJD-Congress collaboration, often described as the “oldest allies” in Bihar politics, carries historical weight that both parties aim to leverage in this electoral contest.

The two parties have a long-standing partnership dating back to the 1990s, with notable successes such as their 2004 Lok Sabha performance, where they jointly secured 24 seats in Bihar as part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Despite occasional strains, such as the alliance’s fracture in 2021 over bypoll seat allocations, their shared commitment to social justice and secularism has often brought them back together.

Tuesday’s meeting reaffirmed this bond, with Kharge taking to X to assert, “In the coming elections, we will give the people of Bihar a strong, positive, just, and welfare option. Bihar will be freed from BJP and its opportunistic thug alliance.”

The Mahagathbandhan’s strategy hinges on presenting a united front to counter the NDA’s dominance, which has been bolstered by Nitish Kumar’s return to the BJP-led coalition in January 2024 after a brief stint with the Mahagathbandhan.

Yadav took a sharp jab at Kumar, alleging that the JD(U) leader has been “hijacked” by the BJP, a narrative the alliance hopes will resonate with voters disillusioned by Kumar’s frequent political shifts.

The INDIA bloc is also claiming to focus on ‘real’ issues like Bihar’s economic backwardness, low per capita income, and high migration rates, which Yadav claimed as evidence of the NDA’s “step-motherly treatment” of the state over the past two decades.

For the Congress, the meeting marks a renewed push to strengthen its position in Bihar, a state where it has struggled to regain its historical influence.

Rahul Gandhi’s active involvement, evidenced by his sharing of meeting photos on his WhatsApp channel and calling it an “important meeting,” signals the party’s determination to play a pivotal role in the alliance.

The presence of Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar and AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru further underscores the party’s organisational focus on the state, which holds 40 Lok Sabha seats and is a key battleground for national politics.

As the Mahagathbandhan gears up for the Bihar polls, the RJD-Congress partnership will be crucial in mobilising their traditional voter bases – RJD’s stronghold among Yadavs and Muslims, and Congress’s appeal to upper castes and urban voters – while also reaching out to youth, farmers, and backward communities.