Tejashwi Yadav, leader of Opposition in the outgoing Bihar Legislative Assembly and younger son of Lalu Prasad, will be the chief minister if the Mahagathbandhan, comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and the Left combine, is voted to power.

Veteran Congress leader and former chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot announced the names of Tejashwi as the CM face and VIP chief Mukesh Sahani as deputy CM candidate on Thursday at a hotel in Patna in the presence of the other alliance partners.

The ruling NDA had attacked the Mahagathbandhan over Tejashwi’s posters being omnipresent and other alliance partners mentioned almost as an afterthought, but the Opposition bloc sought to turn the tables in a counter-attack.

Soon after his name was announced, Tejashwi made a prediction for the incumbent chief minister, Nitish Kumar, and his party, the Janata Dal United (JDU).

“Ashok Gehlot ji has rightly said that we have come together for this joint press conference. However, injustice is happening with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. No press conferences or confirmation has been done yet by NDA. We have been saying for a long time that Nitish Kumar will not be made the next chief minister. This has been confirmed by none other than Union home minister Amit Shah himself. After the Bihar elections, there will be no JDU,” Tejashwi declared.

It’s a calculated attack; Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is propped up by the support of Nitish’s JDU and N. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP.

The Mahagathbandhan announcement put to rest speculation over rift within the Opposition bloc and the larger INDI alliance at the Centre over differences in seat-sharing and “friendly contests” between the alliance partners big and small in at least 10 seats.

According to sources in the Congress, leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who had held a joint Yatra through Bihar accompanied by Tejashwi, made Gehlot rush to Patna and hold talks with the RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad on Wednesday.

There were hectic parleys with other allies to bring all on the same page and placate the RJD which was adamant on Tejashwi as the chief minister face.

Sahani, a Bollywood set designer turned politician, was the surprise pick as deputy CM face.

Sahani, who goes with the self-styled sobriquet of ‘Son of Mallah’ (son of a boatman), claims to have the support of the Nishad (boatmen and fishermen) castes and sub-castes, which account for over 7 per cent of Bihar’s 13 crore population.

Tejashwi, who had earlier been the deputy chief minister till Nitish did another of his U-turns changing political camps, said the Mahagathbandhan had put forward its vision for the development of Bihar.

The NDA, which shares power with the JDU, is yet to spell out its plan for Bihar.

“Nitish Kumar has been chief minister for 20 years,” Tejashwi pointed out.

“Every election, even in the last elections his name was announced as the chief minister. Why not this time? Because Amit Shah has already decided. Twenty years Nitish Kumar has been chief minister and Narendra Modi has been prime minister for 11 years. Yet Bihar is the poorest state in the country, with the lowest per capita income, highest unemployment, and rampant migration. No industry, no special economic zones. No food processing units, no IT parks, IT hubs have come up in Bihar in these 20 years,” he added.

“We are not here to merely form a government or become chief ministers. We are here to build Bihar. Tejashwi alone won’t run the government, every Bihari will run it. Tejashwi alone won’t be the chief minister, every Bihari will be CM.”

“Amit Shah has said Bihar does not have land (for setting up industries). He has made it clear no factories will come to Bihar. Denied the state. Give us a chance we will do everything,” Tejashwi pleaded.

After the lack of job opportunities and a tottering economy, the young Yadav targeted the BJP-JDU government over law and order in the state.

“Bullets were fired outside the chief minister’s residence, outside the state secretariat, our residence, no arrests made. There has been scam after scam, no arrests. Bridges fell, no action taken. Question papers leak, no investigation,” he said.

The former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who announced both the names for the CM and his deputy, reminded the fate of the former Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.

“Our fight is against a powerful enemy with huge money power. They speak of democracy but do not believe in it. They have different models to form governments in different states. In Maharashtra they went to polls with Shinde as the face. After the elections someone else was made the CM,” Gehlot said.