Bihar Election 2025: The Mahagathbandhan will release its manifesto in Patna before Bihar polls. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav will hold joint rallies from Wednesday.
Bihar Election 2025: As the festive calm of Chhath Puja draws to a close, poll-bound Bihar is set to witness a flurry of political activity beginning Tuesday, with the opposition INDIA bloc gearing up to unveil its manifesto, just a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launches his campaign in the state. The manifesto release will mark the formal start of the opposition alliance’s campaign led by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, who has been announced as the bloc’s chief ministerial candidate.
Will Tejashwi Yadav Announce Another Deputy CM Nominee?
Speculation is rife that the INDIA bloc could make additional announcements during the manifesto release, including the appointment of a Deputy Chief Minister from the minority community if it wins the election, news agency PTI reported. Earlier, when Yadav was declared the CM face, it was also announced that Mukesh Sahni, leader of the Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP)—the latest entrant to the alliance—would be made Deputy CM, a move aimed at consolidating support among Nishads, a significant extremely backward community in Bihar.
However, this decision has drawn criticism from both the ruling NDA and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which accused the alliance of overlooking Muslim representation despite their higher population compared to Yadavs and Nishads.
The INDIA bloc’s manifesto is expected to include many of Yadav’s key promises, such as introducing a law guaranteeing at least one government job per family, and legislation protecting extremely backward classes (EBCs) from atrocities, modelled on the SC/ST Act.
Mahagathbandhan Manifesto: Caste Survey, Reservation Push
Yadav has also pledged to bring fresh legislation to restore the increased reservations for deprived castes announced under the previous Nitish Kumar government, which were struck down by the Patna High Court. He further vowed to urge the Centre to include such laws in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, safeguarding them from judicial review.
The INDIA bloc’s manifesto is also likely to reaffirm its Ati Pichhda Sankalp (Resolution for the Extremely Backward Classes) released last month in Gandhi’s presence. It proposed reservations in government contracts worth up to ₹25 crore for underprivileged castes.
Bihar Election 2025: Rahul Gandhi-Tejashwi Yadav Rallies To Follow
Meanwhile, alliance workers—especially from the RJD and Congress—who had been unsettled by delays in finalising seat-sharing, hope for renewed momentum this week. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav are slated to share the stage at joint rallies in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga on Wednesday, signalling a united front as the INDIA bloc steps up its campaign in Bihar.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been questioning Gandhi’s prolonged absence from the Bihar campaign trail, with party leaders accusing the Congress of being inactive in the state’s political discourse.
PM Modi’s Visit and Poll Schedule
BJP’s Bihar unit president Dilip Jaiswal confirmed that Prime Minister Modi would address two programmes in Muzaffarpur and Chhapra on October 30 as part of the party’s Assembly election campaign.
Voting for the 243-member Bihar Assembly will take place in two phases on November 6 and 11, while the counting of votes is scheduled for November 14.
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