Patna: Congress leaders on Thursday made it clear that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav is his party’s Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, not of the Congress or Grand Alliance.
Noting every party has right to project its leader or announce the leader’s name as candidate as the Chief Minister, Congress leader Premchand Mishra told media here that the RJD’s announcement was only their decision, not of the Congress or the Grand Alliance.
Another senior Congress leader Shakil Ahmad Khan said that unlike the Lok Sabha polls when the RJD played the “big brother’s role” and Tejashwi Yadav was the star campaigner, there will be new things in the coming Assembly polls.
“Wait for the time to come,” he said, hinting at a change in the Congress strategy in the state.
Earlier, another constituent of the RJD-led Grand Alliance, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said Tejashwi Yadav is the RJD’s leader, not of the Grand Alliance.
He made it clear here that, at this juncture, the leader of the Grand Alliance for the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls has not been not finalised.
Manjhi said the Grand Alliance partners – the Congress, the RJD, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, the HAM and the Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) would sit together to decide on the issue.
Last week, the RJD, at in its national executive meeting here, announced that Tejashwi Yadav will be its Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, despite the party’s setback in the parliamentary elections.
The former Deputy Chief Minister and younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad was not seen in public for a month after the RJD-led Grand Alliance was routed in the Lok Sabha polls, failing to even a single seat in the state.
He also failed to attend the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Bihar Assembly for the first four days.
[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]