- By Shubham Bajpai
- Sat, 30 Aug 2025 11:01 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday declared himself as the chief ministerial face of the opposition alliance during the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar.
Tejashwi made the announcement in the presence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Addressing a rally in Bihar's Ara, Tejashwi took a dig at CM Nitish Kumar, calling him a copycat CM. He alleged that Kumar is copying his policies.
He proclaimed himself as the 'original CM' while Nitish, as the 'duplicate CM', asking the crowd, "Do you want an original Chief Minister or a duplicate?" Adding further, he declared himself as the only chief ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandhan.
"Tejashwi is moving ahead. The government is following behind," he said. This comes as Rahul Gandhi and Congress have not spoken freely about the CM face yet.
According to a report by India Today, despite a visible camaraderie between Rahul and Tejashwi in the Voter Adhikar Yatra, Congress is hesitant in endorsing th RJD leader as CM as it is wary of not getting the desired number of seats from the RJD in seat-sharing negotiations.
In the 2020 Assembly Elections, Congress proved as a weak link in the Mahagathbandhan. While RJD, under Tejashwi, had emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats, Congress won only 19 seats despite contesting in 70 constituencies.
On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav has backed Tejashwi, saying that there was no problem in naming the RJD leader as CM face.
Akhilesh Yadav's support is likely guided by his earlier position, where he had argued that the regional parties should get preference in the state when in a nation-wide alliance.
Akhilesh also lauded Tejashwi, saying that he had proved his abilities to lead the state by providing record jobs. The Voter Adhikar Yatra