Patna: In its first meeting in the run-up to the assembly elections, scheduled later this year, the opposition Grand Alliance appointed RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as chairman of the coordination committee, a development many in the party see as his acceptance among Mahagathbandhan partners as CM candidate. The committee will take decisions on various issues concerning the Bihar elections — from settling the seat-sharing issue, preparing a common manifesto and common minimum programme (CMP), to chalking out election-related strategy and checking irregularities in the voters’ list. The panel will also maintain coordination with alliance partners. While Tejashwi will head the committee, leaders from every alliance partner will be its members. The formation of the coordination committee followed a brainstorming session at the RJD office in Patna on Thursday which lasted for about three hours. Besides RJD, representatives from other Grand Alliance partners such as the Congress, Left Front and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) attended the meeting. Tejashwi later launched a scathing attack on the ruling NDA govt in Bihar, alleging the state has been lacking a “stable” govt for the past 13 years. “Together we will go to the masses and form the people’s govt,” the Leader of Opposition in the assembly said at a press conference, alleging the NDA govt has failed miserably to check crime and corruption. Alleging that Bihar lagged behind other states in every sphere during the last 20 years of NDA rule, Tejashwi wondered how the ruling alliance has paid scant regard to the people who have been electing them for the past two decades. Tejashwi’s appointment as coordination committee chief comes days after his meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in New Delhi. The development was met with jubilation among RJD supporters. “We are very happy as the Grand Alliance partners have indirectly accepted him (Tejashwi) as the CM face. This is in line with the sentiments of the people of Bihar who want to see him as the next CM,” RJD spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said. Congress, which has not endorsed Tejashwi as CM face, ruled out any confusion about who will lead the INDIA bloc during the assembly elections. “There is no confusion about the leadership of the INDIA bloc. The confusion persists in the NDA, instead. While Haryana CM says Samarat Choudhary (deputy CM) will be NDA’s CM candidate, PM Narendra Modi during his rally in Bihar says he has come to meet his ‘ladle’ (darling), not the CM. So confusion prevails in the NDA,” Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru told the media. VIP chief Mukesh Sahani, while denying any rift within the opposition ranks, said he stands solidly with the alliance and they would form the next govt in the state. Hitting out at the ruling coalition, Sahani said, “Everyone talks about things that happened 20 years ago, but no one pays attention to the prevailing sorry state of affairs in the state.” Prominent leaders who attended the meeting include state Congress president Rajesh Kumar, CLP leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, former state Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha, CPI(ML) leaders Kunal, Dhirendra Jha and K D Yadav, Ram Naresh Pandey of the CPI, Lalan Choudhary (CPM) besides many from the RJD.
