CM face clarity brings opportunity & risk for opposition

Patna: The opposition INDIA bloc’s decision to announce RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as the alliance’s CM face is like a double-edged sword for and against them. Political experts believe that it might have removed confusion about their CM face, but also gave a ready-made ammunition to the ruling NDA to target Yadav, who carries the baggage of his father Lalu Prasad’s conviction in fodder scam and corruption charges against him as well.As indicated by Ashok Gehlot, in charge of Congress’s Bihar election, after declaring Yadav the CM face on Thursday, the INDIA bloc will try to put pressure on NDA to declare the same, as they claim the BJP will not make Nitish Kumar the CM again, the analysts felt.Political analyst Jitendra Narayan, a retired head of political science department of LN Mithila University, felt the Congress made the announcement under political compulsion.

“Now, it will be Nitish versus Tejashwi and ‘jungle raj’ versus ‘sushasan’. The Congress, of late, realised that it still has no vote bank of its own in Bihar and has to toe the RJD line. That was reflected as only Yadav was in the posters at the press conference,” he said, adding he has emerged stronger.

“It’s to be seen how much people trust Tejashwi’s words as Nitish is already tested. The NDA will tell the people that the opposition wanted to change the course of development going on in Bihar for the past 20 years after the chaos and corruption in the 1990s,” he said.

The NDA may also exploit the INDIA bloc’s announcement of VIP chief Mukesh Sahani as the deputy CM candidate to drive a wedge in their Muslim vote bank. Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP national spokesperson, did not miss the point when he said, “The Mahagathbandhan has committed a ‘mahabhool’ (huge mistake). Their M-Y equation does not stand for ‘Muslim-Yadav’ any more but ‘Mukesh Sahani-Tejashwi Yadav’. They want to instil the fear of BJP in Muslim community and get their votes only.

The Congress was making tall claims but fell on the feet of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. But it is the NDA which will win.”Social scientist and former Patna College principal, Prof N K Choudhary, said it’s good for the INDIA bloc to announce its CM face to remove confusion. But he also admitted that the NDA will now highlight the baggage of corruption charges against Lalu to target Yadav and the opposition alliance. “Congress did not have that kind of direct corruption charges against it as in the case of Lalu and family.

But Tejashwi will now be able to tell the voters that he is the CM face and will deliver on his promises being made after coming to power,” Choudhary told this newspaper.About the impact on the NDA, he said Nitish should be declared the CM face instead of saying that the election is being contested under his leadership. “The NDA may be under pressure now as silence speaks volumes and creates confusion,” he said.However, BJP spokesman Prabhakar Mishra said the NDA slogan is “2025 se 30, phir se Nitish and there should not be any confusion on this count”.Assistant professor of economics in Patna University, Aviral Pandey, felt it’s now easier for the NDA to target the opposition. “More or less, Tejashwi was leading the front and the announcement has brought clarity. Now, there will be a direct fight between the two blocs. Nitish is tested and the BJP is trying to look more democratic by saying the MLAs will elect the CM. Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi used to say the same thing, but succumbed to the pressure of Lalu Prasad,” he said.