Tejashwi Yadav will be "CM face" of Mahagathbandhan: CPI leader Ram Naresh Pandey on Bihar polls

Patna (Bihar) [India], October 23 : Amid mounting speculations over Mahagathbandhan's Chief Ministerial face in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Ram Naresh Pandey declared that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav is the Chief Ministerial candidate and is the "future CM" of the State.
"All questions that are being raised are wrong. CM face of Mahagathbandhan is Tejashwi Yadav. So, any controversy on the poster is unnecessary. We are holding the press conference as a united front," Pandey told ANI.
His remarks follow the display of boards and posters featuring photos of Bihar Leader of Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav at the venue of the Mahagathbandhan press conference in Patna.
CPI (ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Thursday responded to questions about Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav being Mahagathbandhan's Chief Minister face for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, saying that if a "face" is visible, there is no need to speculate on other possible faces.
"You are asking who our CM face is? You can see one face there. Why do you want to see five faces on it?" Bhattacharya told ANI.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said that it was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that hadn't even held a press conference on the CM face yet.
"It is better if the BJP doesn't say anything. NDA has not yet held a press conference. Prashant Kishor says that Amit Shah came to suppress and scare his candidates and that Nitish Kumar's time as CM is up," Bhattacharya said.
Tejashwi Yadav is likely to be announced as the Chief Ministerial candidate by the opposition Mahagathbandhan today.
The declaration of Tejashwi as Mahagathbandhan's CM face is expected to be made during a joint press conference by alliance parties. Tejashwi, the Bihar Leader of Opposition (LoP), has previously served as Deputy Chief Minister.
This comes a day after the Congress high command rushed senior party leader Ashok Gehlot to Patna to defuse tensions within the grand alliance.
Gehlot met RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav at their residence in Patna amid reports of a widening rift between alliance partners, stemming from the issue of a "friendly fight" on some assembly seats.
Gehlot, who has been named as Senior Election Observer by the AICC, assured that the INDIA bloc is "fully united" after he and the Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru met with RJD's top leadership.
Further speaking about the friendly fights on some seats in the alliance, Gehlot assured that it is not something out of the ordinary and Mahagathbandhan has "no problem" at all.
"In 243 seats, due to local leaders and equations, a situation like a friendly fight sometimes arises on 5-7 seats. This is a very small number, but a campaign was run against the Mahagathbandhan in the media over it, whereas in reality, there is no problem at all," he said.
The Mahagathbandhan has about 12 seats where at least two allies have filed nominations. However, this notion of a friendly fight has invited criticism from the NDA alliance, which has had no fissures after its seat-sharing arrangements were announced.
The 2025 Bihar elections will have the main contest between the National Democratic Alliance and the Mahagathbandhan.
NDA includes the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.
Mahagathbandhan, led by Rashtriya Janata Dal, includes Congress party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and Mukesh Sahani's Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).
Additionally, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj has also staked claims on all 243 seats of the state.
The assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The results will be declared on November 14.