MUKESH SAHANI | ABOARD DEPUTY CM-SHIPIt’s not for nothing that he has a party called VIP. Way before his alliance came around to the idea, Mukesh Sahani had already gone ahead and crowned himself as the incoming ‘Deputy CM’ in a hypothetical Mahagathbandhan (MGB) regime. That fits an old pattern, for the Vikassheel Insaan—the Expandable Man, if you like—has made a reasonable career out of amateur political dramatics. In 2020, on the eve of the previous assembly poll, he famously walked out of the MGB soon after its seat-sharing was announced—a career pivot that landed him in the NDA’s camp after, as the gossip ran, a reassuring word from Amit Shah. Fast forward to 2025, Sahani’s back in the MGB did someone say dj vu? His camp trumpeted a press conference on the very day Shah was in Patna. The cameras queued. But no PC. Wags have two theories: one, Sahani didn’t get the go-ahead tug from his old minder, or the Congress has been whispering sweet-nothings in his ear. Anyway, unlike 2020, he’s stayed put within the Grand Alliance, and is signing all correspondence as its would-be number two!STAR POWER | THE BHOJPURI SPICE FESTIVAL If it feels more like the casting for a box-office double bill, that’s because it’s meant to be. For, what’s elections without some stardust, even in dusty Bihar? If the RJD is paradropping the desi Adonis Khesari Lal Yadav into Chhapra, the BJP has enlisted the petite 25-year-old Maithili Thakur for Alinagar. To campaign? Nah! That idea morphed long back: now stars are incentivised to do their number with actual tickets. They do what manifestos cannot: cut through the hum of policyspeak, and drag voters—and cameras—to the ground level. Khesari brings the Bhojpuri battering-ram of mass recall: stage presence and ready-made rural trust. Maithili offers a gentler cultural gravitas—and cross-generational appeal. Will the script leap from marquee to mandate? Wait for the live auditions at Chhapra and Alinagar!.preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}BLAME GAME | SAMRAT STRIKES BACK Samrat Choudhary has been quite the voodoo doll for Prashant Kishor of late—the turbaned deputy CM has all those pins dug into his past to show for it. On October 16, he hit back at a live Q&A. “Main yahan nomination kar chuka hoon koi bhag gaya chunav ladne se.”. Expanded, that goes: “Here I stand, publicly accused, yet I dare to face the people’s court. By contrast, the accuser has vamoosed at the prospect of a contest.” Dipping into cartoonish metaphor, he also likened PK to a “joker” in the political deck—the card that appears only to vanish!PROMISES | SIMPLE WAY TO RAISE BIHAR’S GDP Tejashwi Yadav may have a degree in quantum mathematics, for all you know. He has put out a grand promise that defies all conventional accounting: one government job to every family of Bihar that does not have anyone in that sector. A noble thought, yes. After all, the Bihar government has only a slim workforce of 2.5 million right now. And in all, only 2.6 million families have anyone with a job in the state or central government or a PSU. A pitiful ratio. Problem is, Bihar has 27.6 million families. Subtract 2.6 million, and that’s 25 million new government jobs. Assuming a basic Rs 39,000 monthly salary for each, as Union minister Amit Shah pointed out, that would mean a recurring annual salary bill of Rs 12.17 lakh crore! That’s three times Bihar’s annual budget of Rs 3.17 lakh crore. Thing is, Tejashwi had created much traction in 2020 by promising 1 million jobs. With Nitish having stolen his thunder, he had to up his ante. Hence, this multibagger stock!FAMILY MATTERS | MERE PAAS DAADI HAI Tej Pratap Yadav—the scion who went sideways—retains a bit of dad Lalu’s flair for the amusing, albeit minus the armoury. Be that as it may, he decided to steal the limelight in Mahua on October 16, filing his nomination against the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s official candidate. He clutched a framed photograph of his grandmother as if to announce, theatrically, that he needn’t arrive with a political entourage. A mischievous, cinematic surrogate for the lack of familial backing. A day earlier, younger brother Tejashwi had completed the more orthodox ritual, filing from neighbouring Raghopur. The full family tableau was in attendance: Lalu, Rabri Devi, elder sis Misa. Tej Pratap, expelled from his natal party earlier this year for his erratic ways, had to go solo. Literally. Even so, he seemed to relish the optics, even saying the obvious line aloud: “Mere paas daadi ka aashirwad hai.”- EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Oct 24, 2025
