Will Lalu Yadav's decision to put son Tejashwi as CM candidate backfire?

“We are going to form the next Government in Bihar after eight months,” said Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition and youngest son of Lalu Prasad, here on Sunday. He was addressing a gathering at Veterinary Ground in Patna before kicking off his ‘Berozgari hatao’ (remove unemployment) yatra.

Barring the RJD, no other political party, inimical to the BJP-led NDA, is willing to bet on Tejashwi. In private, they (the leaders of the Mahagatbandhan) confess how it would be suicidal for them if they go to the Bihar polls under the leadership of Tejashwi, who will be pitted against Nitish Kumar.

“Lalu Prasad’s insistence on projecting his son as his heir is understandable. But when you are competing with a tall-statured leader like Nitish, who is known to have established the rule of law in a lawless State, then you should have a credible face against him. Projecting Tejashwi (as the CM candidate of the Opposition-led alliance) against Nitish is something akin to BJP projecting Manoj Tiwari against the Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal. In that case, much like Delhi elections, the Bihar poll result will be one-sided (in favour of Nitish),” a seasoned legislator of the Mahagatbandhan explained it to Deccan Herald.

It’s not only Congress or Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) president Upendra Kushwaha, who have expressed strong reservations over projection of Tejashwi as the CM candidate. Other constituents like HAM (Hindustan Awam Morcha) headed by former CM, Jitan Ram Manjhi too have not been able to hide the displeasure of projecting a leader who has, till now, failed to prove his mettle.

Peeved over Lalu’s dynastic politics, many of the RJD MLAs too are planning to cross over the fence for greener pastures. “Just like Sonia Gandhi, who is obsessed with projecting her son, Lalu ji too is hell bent upon ‘son-rise’, knowing very well that such move could spell doom for the Mahagatbandhan in general and the RJD in particular,” opined one of the senior Opposition legislators.

To buttress his point, he cited the 2019 Lok Sabha poll result where the RJD, the largest party in the State Assembly, could not win even one parliamentary constituency in Bihar. This was the first time in RJD history that it drew a blank in its fiefdom.

Apart from the Grand Alliance partners, Tejashwi is drawing flak from the ruling JD(U) too. “The man, who never went to college, is now giving lectures on education and employment through his 'yatra'. By challenging Nitish, Tejashwi (a non-matriculate), is making himself a laughing stock,” said JD (U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh.