All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Sachin Pilot on Friday (April 11, 2025) triggered a row by declaring that the Chief Ministerial face of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress led alliance will be decided after winning the Assembly election in Bihar.
| Photo Credit: ANI

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Sachin Pilot on Friday (April 11, 2025) triggered a row by declaring that the Chief Ministerial face of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress led alliance will be decided after winning the Assembly election in Bihar.

Mr. Pilot’s statement came at a time when RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav declared himself the CM candidate of the Grand Alliance in the upcoming election due in October-November.

Mr. Pilot was in Patna to join the concluding day of ‘Naukri Do, Palayan Roko’ (Give Employment, Stop Migration) foot march along with National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) national in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar.

“The election [for Bihar] has not been declared yet. When the date of the election would be declared, the alliance will contest the election. The alliance will win the election with a majority and then the CM face would be decided,” Mr. Pilot said when asked about RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s acceptance of his son as the CM face during the press conference.

The top RJD leaders have been continuously saying that Mr. Yadav will be the CM if voted to power including, Mr. Prasad. Mr Prasad even went one step ahead by saying that no one can stop his son from becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar in the Assembly election.

Mr. Pilot, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, is not the only Congress leader who has given a vague answer or not accepted Mr. Yadav as the CM face of the Opposition in Bihar.

Earlier, Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru had expressed a similar view over the CM face of the coalition. Whenever media asks Mr. Allavaru, he has distanced himself from endorsing Mr. Yadav as the CM face. Every time, he said that Congress will emerge stronger in Bihar.

Mr. Pilot also blamed the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for rising unemployment in Bihar.

“Migration means — torture every moment, the torture that the youth of Bihar have to endure cannot be imagined. The youth of Bihar were forced to migrate from Bihar to fulfil their dreams, neither were they given opportunities for good education nor employment in Bihar,” Mr. Pilot said.

Lashing out at the NDA government in Bihar, Mr. Pilot said the Janata Dal (United) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance ruled Bihar for 20 years but the situation in the State went from bad to worse.

“Neither industries were set up here nor the infrastructure was developed and no good educational institutions were opened. The JD(U)-BJP government did not support the immense will-power of the youth but looted the future of the youth in Bihar. There was a paper leak and entrance and recruitment examinations went for bidding. Due to the sin of JD(U)-BJP, migration has become a curse,” Mr. Pilot said.

Bihar Congress State president Rajesh Kumar slammed the NDA government in Bihar saying that unemployment is increasing in the whole country including Bihar, but the government does not talk about unemployment.

NSUI national president Varun Choudhary said the Bihar government is not giving proper jobs to the youth but is giving them jobs of the Sangh. Bihar is being made a centre of migration. Youth Congress National President Uday Bhan Chib and Congress leader Supriya Shrinate were also present during the press conference.

Later in the day, Mr. Kumar along with hundreds of NSUI members were detained by police when they tried to gherao the CM’s House in support of their demands. Police also used water cannons to disperse the protestors.