Bihar is going to hold assembly elections next year and political parties have started the election battle over who will be the face of power after Nitish Kumar in the state. Just before the end of the last election campaign, Nitish Kumar played an emotional card and announced that this was his last election. It is not clear whether Nitish will stay away from contesting in the 2025 elections, but the opposition camp has already started the fight for Nitish Kumar’s replacement. There is a battle of perceptions between Tejashwi Yadav of the Bharatiya Janata Party (RJD), which leads the grand alliance, and Jan Suraj leader Prashant Kishore, who has announced his candidacy.
Since the last elections, RJD has been eyeing Tejashwi Yadav as the chief minister. Meanwhile, now Prashant Kishore has also entered the field publicly. Prashant Kishore, who has been saying “government should do this, government should do that” till now, has publicly said for the first time that if our government comes, what will be the first decision we will take? He has said that if we come to power, we will end prohibition within the first hour. PK has not publicly revealed who will be the chief minister, but being the biggest face of Jan Suraj, he is considered to be the chief minister of the party. The battle of perceptions between Tejashwi Yadav and PK can be understood from five points.
1- Nitish’s Choice
Both Tejashwi Yadav and Prashant Kishore see themselves as alternatives to the incumbent government, i.e. CM Nitish. Tejashwi Yadav sees the work done during the Grand Alliance government of CM Nitish as his achievement while PK sees his vision as his. The two leaders who were active in politics almost at the same time also entered this arena. PK Jahan has been preparing the political base for Jan Suraj for the past two years. Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav is also currently strategizing to turn the atmosphere in his favour through Samvad Yatra and political programmes in all 243 assembly constituencies.
2- Who are public leaders?
Nitish Kumar’s image is that of a leader who understands what the local people want. Be it electricity, sending mafia to jail or prohibition of liquor, Nitish Kumar’s party has been the power centre in Bihar for 20 years and is therefore seen as playing an important role in it. Now, a battle is going on between Tejashwi and PK to prove themselves as mass leaders. While PK talks about the pains and problems of the common man during Padyatra, Tejashwi Yadav also does not miss any opportunity to convey the message that we are one of you too through his eating habits, lifestyle and speeches.
3- Youth Icon
RJD considers the recruitment of teachers carried out during the Grand Alliance government led by Nitish as a major achievement of Tejashwi Yadav among the public. The strategy of RJD is to project the image of Tejashwi Yadav as a “job-seeker”. Meanwhile, Prashant Kishore is also making a strong entry in this battle of youth idols. PK is talking about the pain of migrants and promising to provide jobs to the youth of Bihar. He said that no one needs to leave Bihar to get a job earning up to Rs 10,000.
4- The battle to expand the vote bank
In Bihar, there is a class equation in addition to caste math. As soon as Nitish Kumar came to power, he started his efforts to win the women vote bank through measures like providing free bicycles to girl students, prohibiting and cracking down on criminals, and improving electricity supply, which further reinforced this. That is why whenever Nitish Kumar is seen as losing, he makes a strong comeback, as was seen in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Also Read: ‘If we come to power, we will end prohibition in Bihar within an hour’, Prashant Kishore’s important statement
Ahead of MY (Muslim-Yadav), Tejashwi’s strategy also sought to create a new vote arithmetic by bringing together the youth and the poor. Now PK has also entered a similar battle. Some say that the Jan Suraj Party of the Justice Party is wooing the intellectual voters. Now that PK has announced a ban on liquor, it is seen as a strategy to connect the poor, labourers, Dalits and backward classes with the educated classes.
5- Traditional and ordinary
Prashant Kishor has been attacking the Lalu family and the RJD over the issue of nepotism. PK recently mocked familism and said, “Initially, Shah Rukh Khan chose any kind of work and became famous based on his own abilities. He worked in Bollywood for many years and did many super hit films. After getting nominated, Shahrukh started choosing directors, production houses and scripts of his choice, while Abhishek Bachchan was the son of Amitabh Bachchan, so he always had the opportunity to choose the work he liked.” PK’s attempt was to create an image of a leader who had risen from the ashes and fought his way to success.
Also read: Prashant Kishor compares Tejashwi to Abhishek Bachchan, calls himself the Shahrukh of politics
However, RJD has been calling PK the B-Team of BJP. Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav inherited politics. This is a political plus point for Tejashwi. Senior Bihar journalist Omprakash Ashok said that Lalu Yadav not only handed over politics as his legacy to Tejashwi, but also handed over the problems to Tejashwi. In just a decade of politics, Tejashwi’s name has been in the land of jobs and other affairs. What gave Tejashwi an upper hand in the perception battle with PK also created problems for him. As far as PK is concerned, he has undoubtedly joined the four big faces of the state’s politics along with Nitish, Tejashwi and Chirag. PK also has the support of the public, but in the perception battle, Tejashwi seems to have an upper hand.
Why PK vs Tejashwi?
The Bihar government supports the NDA, but the two opposition leaders PK and Tejashwi remain at the center of discussion. The two parties seem to be making the Bihar election battle into Tejashwi vs PK, and the reason behind this is also believed to be a strategy to take advantage of the lack of options for Nitish in the JDU and prevent the BJP from gaining a foothold.
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