‘May Be For RJD…’: Congress Leader On Tejashwi Yadav As CM Face For Bihar Elections – Delhi News Daily

LoP in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav during the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, in Bihar’s Bettiah. (Image: AICC/PTI)

The uncertainty around the chief ministerial candidate from the Mahagathbandhan for poll-bound Bihar only grew as Congress leader Udit Raj dismissed RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as a possible candidate for the INDIA bloc.

Raj said while Tejashwi may be the CM face for his own party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the INDIA bloc will make a “collective” decision on its candidate.

“Tejashwi Yadav may be CM face for RJD but INDIA bloc’s CM face will be decided collectively,” Raj told news agency PTI. “Look, any supporter of any party can do that (name that party’s leader a chief minister)…but the INDIA bloc’s candidate has not been decided. Let us see what the Congress HQ decides.”

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With less than a month left for the first phase of voting in the Bihar assembly elections on November 6, INDIA bloc has not yet shared a “seat-sharing formula”. A few days ago, however, the opposition parties met at the residence of Tejashwi, who heads the coordination committee for the upcoming polls.

The Congress, however, said its central election committee (CEC) is meeting on Wednesday (October 8) to decide on the candidates for the upcoming polls. The virtual meeting will be chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Various CEC members and senior leaders of the Congress will be in attendance including leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who is on a visit to South America. Other members, including Sonia Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, KC Venugopal, Amee Yajnik, Uttam Kumar Reddy, TS Singh Deo and others are set to attend.

The Congress is in alliance with the RJD and other Left parties including CPI, CPI (ML) in the state. On October 5, the opposition alliance went into a huddle and said the seat-sharing arrangement will be announced “in a couple of days”.

After the meeting, RJD national general secretary Alok Mehta, in a guarded response, said: “Most things have been discussed. A few issues remain to be sorted out. But, all would be final in two days and we will announce everything at a press conference.”

Mehta was faced with a barrage of questions on seat-sharing and inclusion of new allies like Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party headed by former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s JMM.

(With agency inputs)