Photo Credit: The Suncity News.
Patna, October 23, 2025: After disagreement, the Grand Alliance has finally projected RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar Assembly election 2025.
Ashok Gahlot announced the name of Tejashwi Yadav as a CM face of the Grand Alliance:
The name of Tejashwi Yadav as a Chief Ministerial face was declared during the joint press conference of the Grand Alliance in Hotel Maurya, Patna, on Thursday.
The announcement was made by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gahlot in the presence of leaders of all Grand Alliance constituent partners.
“Tejashwi Yadav is young and a man of commitment. He has fulfilled all the commitments he had promised. He has a long career. Hence, we have decided to contest this election under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav. He will be our Chief Ministerial face,” Gahlot said.
He has also announced the name of Mukesh Sahani as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar if the Grand Alliance government will be formed.
Ashok Gahlot also took a swipe at Amit Shah and the BJP leadership to declare who will be the Chief Minister of the NDA post-election.
The announcement marked the end of a prolonged standoff that had cast uncertainty over the alliance’s unity ahead of the nomination process.
The Grand Alliance faced strong criticism for failing to finalize its seat-sharing formula even as the deadline for filing nominations for the second phase passed.
The main point of contention was the Congress Party’s demand to contest 70 seats, similar to its 2020 arrangement, despite its poor performance in that election, winning only 19 out of 70 seats, a strike rate of about 27%.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav opposed conceding the same number of seats this time, citing the Congress’s declining ground presence.
The tension over both seat distribution and the CM’s face threatened to split the alliance.
Congress high command steps up to resolve the issues in the Grand Alliance:
To defuse the crisis, the Congress central leadership intervened and dispatched Ashok Gahlot, former Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress election in-charge for Bihar, to Patna.
Gahlot met Lalu Prasad Yadav at his residence in the presence of Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday.
After the meeting, Gahlot told reporters that all is well within the Grand Alliance and confirmed that the alliance would fight the Bihar election together with unity and purpose.
Tejashwi Yadav emerges as the consensus CM face of the Grand Alliance.
While most Grand Alliance partners, including CPI-ML, CPI, CPIM, and VIP, had already backed Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face, the Congress had earlier maintained that the Chief Minister would be decided only after the election results.
However, following Gahlot’s visit, the Congress has now agreed to support Tejashwi’s leadership.
Tejashwi, who served as Deputy Chief Minister in the previous Grand Alliance government, continues to enjoy strong support among Muslim-Yadav (MY) voters, the RJD’s traditional base.
Final seat distribution:
As per the finalized arrangement, seat allocation within the Grand Alliance stands as RJD is contesting in 143 seats, Congress on 61, VIP on 15, CPI-ML on 22 and the remaining 4 seats will be contested by CPI and CPI(M).
The Grand Alliance leaders have also come to a mutual understanding to resolve the friendly fight in some seats.
The Bihar Legislative Assembly has a total of 243 seats.
With the seat-sharing deadlock resolved and Tejashwi Yadav officially declared the face of the alliance, the Grand Alliance now aims to project a united front against the NDA led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP.
Also Read: Tejashwi Yadav promises permanent jobs for contractual workers and Jivika Didis if voted to power.
EOM.