Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Tejashwi Yadav leads INDIA bloc's crucial Bihar campaign despite health woes

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader is spearheading the INDIA bloc's campaign in Bihar despite facing health challenges.

The battle for Bihar's 40 crucial seats in the Lok Sabha 2024 elections is underway, spanning seven phases. The RJD is contesting elections as an alliance partner in the INDIA bloc.  The (BJP) is in alliance with its (NDA) partners—the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), among others.

Midway through his campaign, following the first two phases of elections, doctors advised bed rest for three weeks to treat his back pain. However, ignoring medical advice, the 34-year-old leader has continued to campaign. 

On May 3, Tejaswi took to social media and shared a video of himself at one of his rallies. In the video, he lifted his shirt to reveal a waist belt that he was wearing to help alleviate his .

“I am on painkiller injections and medicines for unbearable back pain. I am wearing a belt too," Tejaswi said in a tweet in Hindi. Since then, the has continued his campaign, addressing large crowds in his public meetings, occasionally, even in a wheelchair.

In one of his speeches, the issue of Tejashwi’s back pain led to a political war of words between the RJD and the BJP when he claimed he would not rest until ’. The RJD had to clarify later that its leader meant ‘political bed rest’, not the literal ‘bed rest’.

Many say Tejashwi has no choice but to campaign, especially due to the health of his ailing father, former chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The 2024 Lok Sabha election is a crucial fight for Tejashwi Yadav, who was deputy chief minister in the government until January this year when the JD-U chief decided to switch sides from the INDIA bloc to the