'Son of Mallah': Who is Mukesh Sahani, Mahagathbandhan's deputy CM face; worked with Shahrukh Khan in 'Devdas'

NEW DELHI: The Mahagathbandhan has formally announced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the 2025 Bihar assembly elections. The alliance also named Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani as the deputy CM face. Sahani, popularly known as the “Son of Mallah”, joined the Grand Alliance in April last year after weeks of negotiations. With his entry, the opposition alliance now has six parties. According to a 2015 TOI article, Sahani, a resident of Supaul Bazar village in Darbhanga district, was 19 when he ran away from home to Mumbai in 1999 to accompany a friend. He soon returned to his father, Jitan Ram, but left again after six months because he missed the "freedom" he experienced in Mumbai. After working as a salesman at a cosmetics store, Sahani drifted into the business of making sets for films and TV shows. He met with early success, which spurred him to launch Mukesh Cineworld Private Limited. He later partnered with notable industry names like Nitin Desai and Umang Kumar. His big break came when Desai hired him to work on the sets of Shahrukh Khan-starrer Devdas. The VIP was allocated three seats under the RJD’s quota of 26 Lok Sabha seats – Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur and Purvi Champaran. In the 2019 elections, the VIP also contested three seats, although none of the opposition allies, except the Congress, won. Several constituencies in north Bihar have a significant population from the fishermen community.