Our Bureau
Patna
The Bihar elections are turning out to be one for the ages with Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi leading the coalition termed as the ‘Mahagathbandhan’. Tejashwi, in a state that is still attached to the roots, stands as a silhouette of a modern and promising leader. The son of probably the most known leader from Bihar – Lalu Yadav, he is the heir of a political dynasty that was raised in the dust and dialects of Bihar and going into this election the burden of writing a new chapter to take the dynasty forward will be on his shoulders.
Tejashwi Yadav, unlike his father’s quirky and witty style that seemed attached to the roots of Bihar, has a different approach to his leadership. The young leader talks more about plans to take the state forward with less focus on caste arithmetic and more on providing jobs to the youth of the state.
However, Tejashwi isn’t alone leading the Mahagathbandhan as beside him stands the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. Together they ride side by side in the lanes of Bihar portraying the ‘Jai-Veeru’ friendship, singing “yeh dosti, hum nahi todenge…”, and getting ready to reshape the politics of Bihar in November 2025. The fate of this alliance will solely lie on the shoulders of the ‘Jai-Veeru’ and it will be interesting to see if they can carry the Mahagathbandhan to victory in Bihar.
But in a state where friendships are not a common occurrence in politics, and where alliances are usually forged with suspicion and crumble like a pack of cards, it will be interesting to see how the Mahagathbandhan stands its ground. Rahul Gandhi is leading the rallies alongside Tejashwi echoing the same political sentiments that he used earlier in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 Assembly election, as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – “UP ko yeh saath pasand hai.” But whether the formula that hasn’t given the Congress alliance too much success will now work in Bihar or not is something that will have to be seen.
