Tejashwi Yadav vs 'Eknath Shinde of Bihar'?: Congress leader's attack on NDA over CM face

COngress leader Udit Raj on fri took a pointed dig out at the NDA in Bihar, teasing the ruling fusion o'er its indecision on declaring a chief ministerial face for the assembly election 2025. Udit Raj also drew a parallel between Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and former Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to sideline the Janata Dal (United) boss.Direct attack on NDA’s leadership“When repeatedly from the NDA side it was being asked whether Tejashwi Yadav would be the chief ministerial face or not, we showed it by doing it. Now you show - whether you will make Nitish Kumar CM or not, give a straight answer that you will make him Eknath Shinde; Nitish Kumar ji has become Eknath Shinde. So, Bihar ka jo Eknath Shinde hai, woh Nitish Kumar ko kaha ja sakta hai (Nitish Kumar can be called Bihar’s Eknath Shinde). They have betrayed him, a conspiracy has been done against Nitish Kumar ji,” Udit Raj said.In the 2024 Maharashtra assembly election, the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, secured a decisive victory. Eknath Shinde, who had served as chief minister since June 2022, was initially expected to continue in the role. However, after days of deliberations and political negotiations, Shinde agreed to serve as deputy chief minister under BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, who returned to the top post for a third term.Tejashwi Yadav is INDIA bloc's CM face in BiharThe opposition INDIA bloc, meanwhile, appeared to have moved past weeks of squabbling in poll-bound Bihar on Thursday when RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was declared as chief ministerial candidate of the coalition, which seeks to wrest power from and entrenched NDA.The announcement was made by Ashok Gehlot, the Congress's troubleshooter, who had flown down to diffuse tensions with allies, including the RJD, which has forced the INDIA bloc constituents into "friendly fights" in about a dozen assembly seats.On cue, at least a couple of candidates, one from the Congress and another from Vikassheel Insan Party, headed by Mukesh Sahani, who has been promised the deputy CM’s post, pulled out of the contest from seats where they were to be pitted against allies.The Congress has identified at least eight seats where it is contesting against candidates of the RJD and the CPI. Besides, there are some seats where the RJD, Left and VIP would end up fighting each other, with the lapse of the period during which withdrawal of nomination papers was permitted.Yadav, who, at the age of 35, could become the youngest chief minister of the state if the INDIA bloc came to power, thanked his coalition partners for the trust they have reposed in him and vowed to defeat "the incompetent 20-year-old government, a so-called double engine, of which one engine is corruption and the other is crime".The NDA, which had been hoping that the opposition coalition would remain fractious, was perturbed. Senior BJP leader and deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary alleged that Yadav, "a proclaimed offender" (panjikrit apradhi), had been named the CM candidate under pressure from his father Lalu Prasad, the RJD president, who "tortured" alliance partners to accede to the demand.