00:00All right, the latest news break coming in.
00:02There has been a change in Congress's new youth chief, Manish Sharma,
00:07has become the new Congress youth head.
00:11Manish Sharma replaces Krishna Allawaru as the Congress youth chief.
00:16Krishna Allawaru will continue to remain as Bihar Congress in charge.
00:21Big claim by Bihar Congress in charge as well on the sidelines of this development
00:24where Krishna Allawaru says that Sahani, Mukesh Sahani of the VIP,
00:30only one of multiple Deputy CM faces.
00:33Deputy CM from Congress as well if MGB wins the polls.
00:38If you remember, Ashok Gailoth who had made the announcement of the chief ministerial face of Sejasvi
00:43and the deputy as Mukesh Sahani had also said that there could be another Deputy CM
00:49leaving the door open for the Congress just in case the MJB Mahagat Bandhan comes to power.
00:56But having said that, there has been a change in the new youth Congress chief for the party
01:03and Manish Sharma is now all set to replace Krishna Allawaru.
01:09A question mark of course remains.
01:10Why does this development come on the same day when there are rumour mills churning
01:17that Krishna Allawaru had caused a fair bit of tension
01:21where the Mahagat Bandhan was concerned
01:26and he had been a possible spoke in the wheels there.
01:31So lots of questions there, why he is being removed.
01:34But when Krishna Allawaru did in fact speak to my colleague Maria in Bihar,
01:40he made it very clear, especially on the question of the Deputy CM face.
01:45You had Ashok Gailoth who had left it open saying there could be another Deputy CM
01:50and Krishna Allawaru made it sure that he communicates
01:53that other Deputy CM would very well be from the Congress.
01:58Listen in.
01:59All right, let's cut across to our band of reporters.
02:25Maria Shaqeel, Rohit Singh, Sujit Jha, all three of them join us.
02:29Maria, coming to you first is very interesting
02:31because Krishna Allawaru the same evening replaced
02:34as the Youth Congress head for the party,
02:37retained as Bihar in charge,
02:40but making a key point when you spoke with him,
02:42suggesting that the Deputy CM chair still open
02:45as the second Deputy CM if the Mahagat Bandhan comes to power for the Congress.
02:50That's right.
02:55That's what Krishna Allawaru did say that.
02:58Remember, Preeti, over the last few weeks,
03:00there has been a great degree of tension in the Mahagat Bandhan parties
03:04and it has been playing out in full public display.
03:07Given the fact that today,
03:09when the entire nomination withdrawal process ends,
03:13there are still on 10 seats
03:15that there is an alliance versus alliance battle which is playing out.
03:18So Krishna Allawaru, Congress in charge of Bihar,
03:21telling me clearly that as far as the announcement of Tejasvi
03:25as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Mahagat Bandhan is concerned,
03:28the decision regarding that was taken in the month of April itself,
03:32that it was only in the fitness of time that they would have announced it
03:35and that they were waiting for the seat-sharing deal to be sealed
03:39and then they would have gone ahead with it.
03:41That's what he told me in that chat that I had with him just a few minutes back,
03:45which will be playing out as well in some time from now.
03:47But certainly, Preeti, today would be seen as a turning point in these elections.
03:53Till a few hours ago,
03:55the Bihar election was largely seen as a one-sided contest
03:59with the Mahagat Bandhan really appearing to be incomplete and total disarray
04:03with a lot of confusion and dissonance playing out between the various parties.
04:08Now it appears to be sending that message of cohesion and of unity,
04:13but how long will that continue also remains to be seen
04:16because as far as the vote transfer is concerned,
04:20that is going to be the big challenge among the Mahagat Bandhan parties.
04:23Maria, stay with me.
04:24I'm going to quickly cut across to the big story and the big development for the day.
04:27It was a press conference that has been long in the making.
04:30One would have expected that the press conference would have happened way earlier,
04:35even before the first phase of filing nominations for Bihar had ended
04:40in terms of the seat-sharing formula.
04:43It didn't happen then, it happened today.
04:44Even though the exact seat-sharing formula of how the MGB is fighting,
04:48the Mahagat Bandhan is fighting, wasn't given out.
04:51But what was projected was this massive show of strength, of unity.
04:54And finally, Pejas Viyadar was announced as the chief ministerial phase.
04:59Not just that, one also needs to lead into the announcement
05:03as Deputy CM's phase, where Mukesh Sahani is concerned of the VIP,
05:08where the Congress projecting the extremely backward community
05:12as a chance to the chair of Deputy CM.
05:16Having said that, the Congress also left the position
05:18of the second Deputy CM open.
05:20Listen in.
05:24Veteran congressman Ashok Gehlot has sealed cracks
05:30and put the Mahagat Bandhan together for Bihar Dangal 2025.
05:36After day-long parlays and one-on-one meetings,
05:39the former Chief Minister of Rajasthan has ensured
05:42that the Grand Alliance has an edge in this November elections
05:46that NDA lacks.
05:49A chief minister face.
05:50R.J.D. is content and takes the fight directly to NDA's doors.
05:55The mastermind sent by the high command of the Grand Old Party
06:20also ensured that the Mukesh Sahani's VIP remains with the pack
06:25and puts its whole might to back the fight.
06:28They get the coveted Deputy CM post.
06:31The master's stroke to seal the cracks doesn't end there.
06:54Ashok Gehlot clearly indicated a possibility of a third option
06:58of another Deputy CM if the alliance came to power.
07:04And this time from the EBC.
07:24The cracks in the Mahagat Bandhan still shows
07:28in the ten seats of not-so-friendly fights,
07:31where allies are pitted against each other
07:34and these ten seats can lead to inner bickering,
07:38giving away the edge the Grand Alliance claimed
07:41with the show of unity on 23rd October.
07:44All right, it's been a day of big developments.
07:52Let's cut across to our political panel and my colleagues.
07:55Joining me, senior journalist Aarti Jairat,
07:57Amitabh Tiwari, founder of Vote Vibe.
07:59I also have with me Sujit Jha and Rohit Singh.
08:02Before we cut across to Amitabh Ji and Aarti Jairat Ji,
08:05I'd like to cut across to Sujit Jha and Rohit,
08:07who know Bihar way better than most of us sitting in the studios
08:11or who would be travelling there later.
08:12But to begin with, Sujit,
08:17today the announcement of a deputy CM face,
08:20a CM face and a deputy CM chair,
08:23who has been closed.
08:25How do you see all of us?
08:28Look, it was a surprise that
08:31Mukesh Sani would say that they will become deputy CM.
08:36And they need the deputy CM.
08:39You remember that in 2020,
08:41they were in Mahagadwandan.
08:42They were in this situation.
08:43They were in that situation.
08:44They were not surprised to have deputy CM.
08:45They were not done with the deputy CM.
08:47They were out of the beach press conference.
08:49They were out of the beach.
08:50Thank you very much.
09:20Thank you very much.
10:30Rohit, you know, the fact is, like Sujidji said, that it's been announced late.
10:34Now, what will be the impact of it?
10:36Rohit, for someone who knows Bihar way better than most of us, you know, if you look at the winning margin of votes the last time around, which was less than 13,000, and you had 12 seats where friendly fights are being contested on.
10:50There are no friendly fights when it comes to an election, especially in Bihar.
10:54That 12 is now down to 10 after this press conference.
10:57Will there be more sit-outs?
10:58And how are you looking at the entire play out?
11:01Well, CPT, Tejasvi Yadav's declaration as the CM face of the Mahagadband today has had some positive impact.
11:14A dozen of seats where there were Mahagadband candidates, pitted against the Mahagadband candidates, that number has come down because at two constituencies, the candidates of VIP and Congress have withdrawn their nomination.
11:28In Varsali Ganj, the Congress candidate has withdrawn his nomination against RJD candidate and in Babu Barhi seat in Madhubani, VIP candidate has withdrawn her nomination against RJD.
11:41It has had some impact, but on the ground still, there are 10 seats where the Mahagadband will be fighting against each other and that is for final because today was the last day for withdrawal of names and that now time period is also over.
11:56So now, officially, there will be 10 seats in Bihar where Mahagadband will be fighting each other along with the NDA.
12:03Back to you.
12:06Rohit, how much is the counter charge, Rohit, sticking where you have now the Mahagadband, multiple players of that, suggesting at least now we've announced the chief ministerial face.
12:18The home minister a short while back has made sure that he's left the CM face for the NDA open.
12:26Well, yes, that's the big question because union home minister, Amit Shah, when he was questioned at that event in Patna about who will be the next chief minister,
12:40when Nitish Kumar be made and the answer which Amit Shah gave was just explaining the process of how a chief minister is elected in the meeting of the legislators.
12:51So that has raised big questions on whether BJP had intentions, clear intentions of making Nitish Kumar chief minister or not, if at all NDA comes to power.
13:03So that remains a big question and that was the point that was raised in today's press conference also of the Mahagadband and Vitejasvi.
13:10You have clearly stated that now I am declared as the CM face. What about the NDA? Why aren't they declaring Nitish Kumar as their CM face? Back to you.
13:18Thank you, Rohit. And thank you, Sujit. I want to bring in Aarti Jairat and Amitabh Tiwari.
13:21Amitabh ji, how do you see all the developments that have taken place this morning till late afternoon where you had two pullouts of friendly fights?
13:29Yeah, I think it's now three. I think Pranapur Congress candidate also has withdrawn, it seems. So you guys will have to check locally.
13:40See, any announcement or decision has positives and negatives. So the positives clearly for the Mahagadband with the announcement of Tejasvi Yadav as the chief ministerial face is that it energizes the cadre of RJD.
13:53Now RJD is the single largest party in Bihar as well as the single large, the largest party of the alliance.
14:01It also will mostly consolidate the core vote block of the RJD and the Mahagadband which is called as the MY vote block.
14:09Since 15% people in the vote wipe survey, our survey said that they are going to vote on the chief ministerial face.
14:17So now Mahagadband has a face. So for them, they see a face now, which was not evident earlier or which was, there was some level of confusion.
14:27It also gives clarity to the campaign. And now, since young voters are 18 to 29 age group are around one fourth of the population.
14:37So Tejasvi is fairly young and he also has some decent level of popularity among the youth.
14:43So now you have a fresh face versus a fatigue face is what the Mahagadbandan strategy or objective is.
14:49The weaknesses or the cons of this decision is that it is likely to lead to more polarization in Bihar.
14:59Because since no deputy CM from the Muslim community has been announced, Tejasvi represents the MY face.
15:07So the election might move to Hindu-Muslim, especially in North Bihar, where the minority population is high, which could be counter-protecting.
15:16There could also be a counter-consolidation of upper caste and non-yada OBCs.
15:21Because ultimately, it is a forward or backward class in Bihar.
15:26Third, corruption and dynasty politics. These two favorites of, let's say, Mahagad and NDA or the BJP.
15:36Now, they will start raising questions around these when they attack Tejasvi.
15:42So these are likely the pros and cons. And we will have to see which plays out in a larger proportion.
15:49The announcement of, I mean, if you want to discuss the DCM, we can discuss now or if you want to discuss it later.
15:57No, you can quickly give your point of view on that, Amit Abdiwari Ji.
16:01So on the deputy CM position, now clearly, again, the pros and cons it has.
16:06Pros is that, I mean, he is a face from the EBC community and the Hindu EBC community is 26%.
16:13And he would help the Mahagadbandan to expand the vote bank beyond MY.
16:18However, he is not the undisputed leader of the EBCs.
16:23He represents only 2.6% of the EBC population.
16:28But by not naming a Dalit deputy CM, which was expected, and a deputy CM from the Muslim community,
16:35it could help parties like OVC who have been talking about representation or a lower representation of secular parties like RJD,
16:45that they take votes in our name, but they are not willing to give representation.
16:50Aarti Jairud, how do you look at developments, ma'am?
16:54Slightly differently from Amit Abdiwari.
16:56I think, yes, very much the announcement of Tejasvi Yadav as the CM phase is going to consolidate the MGB,
17:08which seem to be in disarray because of the friction over siege array.
17:13And, you know, this will definitely energize the RJD, you know, Kada.
17:17I think the announcement of Bukesh Sani as the deputy CM phase is a very critical move by,
17:26it's a very crucial move by the MGB because it is an attempt to reach out beyond the traditional MY vote base of the RJD
17:37to other communities, communities that actually were part of Nitish Kumar's vote bank,
17:44but that Nitish Kumar's vote banks may be splintering this time,
17:50largely because of questions about his health and his future,
17:54and the NDA's refusal to endorse him, you know, very, endorse him officially as their CM picks.
18:03So I think this is a very crucial move by the MGB because, yes,
18:07although he represents a very small section of the EBC,
18:10but it is a signal from the MGB that we are not just MY,
18:16but we also want EBCs.
18:18We are being more inclusive this time.
18:22We want to include, you know, EBCs in our alliance.
18:26And I think that's a very crucial signal that goes out
18:29against the background of what is happening on the other side in the NDA,
18:35vis-a-vis Nitish Kumar.
18:36All right, I appreciate both of you for joining us.
18:41Thank you there.
18:42You know, the next two weeks will only get that much more interesting
18:47where we are following the Bihar election.
18:49The MGB finally coming up with their press conference,
18:52announcing a chief ministerial face,
18:53and now they're going to train their guns on the NDA
18:56and suggest that they still haven't announced a chief ministerial face.
19:02With that, it's a wrap on this bulletin.
19:04We'll see you tomorrow.
19:05Tomorrow's D2.
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