Sanjay Saxena I Lucknow
The time for assembly elections is drawing near. In a few months, a new government will be formed in Bihar. Alongside the NDA and the INDIA alliance, leaders like Prashant Kishor of Jan Suraaj Party and Owaisi are also eyeing their political future in the state. While the NDA has made it clear that Nitish Kumar will be their chief ministerial candidate, no name has been finalized yet by the INDIA alliance or within the constituent parties like the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
RJD, however, is projecting Tejashwi Yadav as the face for the chief minister’s post. This is happening despite the decades-old alliance between the Congress and the RJD, but now it seems both parties are not keen on continuing the partnership. As a result, the alliance currently appears to be at a very delicate juncture.The friendship between Lalu Yadav and Sonia Gandhi had for years provided strength to the bond between the two parties. However, since Rahul Gandhi took over the reins of the Congress, this relationship has been under increasing strain.
This strain is not only visible in political decisions but also in ideological clashes and the lack of trust between the leaderships.The most significant aspect is that Rahul Gandhi wants to promote a Congress leader in Bihar parallel to Tejashwi. His efforts to bring forward Kanhaiya Kumar and support him from time to time clearly irk the RJD. Lalu Yadav fears that the Congress might attempt to encroach upon his Yadav vote bank, and this fear is also evident in Tejashwi Yadav’s demeanor. Tejashwi is trying to establish himself as the sole political alternative in Bihar, and the rise of leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar makes him uneasy. This discomfort is not only due to caste equations but also signals a shift in Congress’s strategy, which now wants to be acceptable across all communities whether upper castes, Dalits, or Yadavs.
However, the problem arises when Lalu Yadav does not oppose Congress playing upper-caste politics, but as soon as Congress attempts to reach into the Yadav or Dalit vote banks in Bihar, it causes unease. Faces like Pappu Yadav and Kanhaiya Kumar have become warning bells for Lalu Yadav.
Especially because both these leaders speak the language of social justice that Lalu Yadav had crafted decades ago. Pappu Yadav’s regional influence and Kanhaiya Kumar’s ideological grip could destabilize the RJD. Rahul Gandhi promoting both of them is a clear signal to the RJD that the Congress no longer wants to remain just a supporting partner. But this clash is not merely ideological or caste-based; it also revolves around the issue of leadership. Congress is hesitant to declare Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial face in Bihar, whereas RJD has already made it clear. Under Tejashwi’s leadership, meetings of the alliance are happening, coordination committees have been formed, and it appears as though the entire electoral strategy is being planned under his leadership.
But the Congress believes that fighting elections with Tejashwi’s name at the forefront will alienate Dalits, upper castes, and non-Yadav backward classes from them. This shows a significant gap in the thinking of the two parties. This is the same Congress that once supported Lalu Yadav even when he was entangled in corruption cases, but now wants to build a distinct political identity. Rahul Gandhi’s strategy is to maintain suspense over the chief ministerial face in Bihar, just like the INDIA alliance did during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by not naming a prime ministerial candidate. This would help in consolidating votes from all castes and communities.
However, for Lalu and Tejashwi, this strategy raises direct questions about their acceptability and leadership ability. It is noteworthy that Lalu Yadav has always relied on his Muslim-Yadav equation, and to preserve this combination, he wants to keep the Congress out of this bracket. In 2019, when a Congress Muslim candidate won from Kishanganj, and in 2020, when four Muslim Congress MLAs entered the assembly, it served as a warning sign for the RJD. The RJD wants Muslim votes to remain exclusively with them, but with the Congress becoming more active, cracks are beginning to appear in this equation.
The issue doesn’t end there. Lalu Yadav was also displeased when Rajesh Kumar was made the Bihar Congress president. He had wanted someone close to him to get the post, but Rahul Gandhi chose Rajesh, who comes from the Dalit community and is helping the Congress make inroads into this voter base. Lalu Yadav’s concern is that if the Congress starts targeting both Dalit and Yadav vote banks, then what relevance will RJD hold?
Rahul Gandhi’s aggressive stance on caste-based census also bothers Lalu Yadav. Lalu has been one of the biggest proponents of caste census, but when Rahul Gandhi labeled the Bihar government’s caste survey as fake, it came across as a direct challenge. This statement came at a time when the RJD was projecting the caste census as one of its biggest achievements, and the alliance was actively promoting it. Even though RJD hasn’t openly spoken about it, the tension is palpable.
It is being said that despite Tejashwi Yadav’s repeated claims that there is no conflict within the alliance, the truth is that the alliance is functioning through a very uneasy compromise. Internally, the Congress believes that Tejashwi’s acceptability is limited, and if he becomes the face, the Congress might suffer. Hence, the Congress prefers to go into elections without naming a face, so decisions can be made as per the post-election situation. While this strategy provides Congress with a safer route, it puts RJD in a state of insecurity.
