Tejashwi off the blocks with Yatra, but can he run the marathon?

HIS ANOINTMENT has been more than a decade in the making. Fittingly then, in a state where a ‘rath yatra’ stopped by his father set politics of the country on a new course, Tejashwi Yadav is seen as having sounded his arrival with a yatra of his own.

With Lalu Prasad ailing and more a moral force now than the live-wire ringleader of Bihar politics, and with an aggressive BJP fast filling up the space vacated by a spent Nitish Kumar, it’s virtually Tejashwi who is the face of the Opposition in Bihar now – pulling along not just the RJD but a sluggish Congress.

Going by that, his Jan Vishwas Yatra that wrapped up on Thursday may have given the 34-year-old the required momentum, with crowds responding enthusiastically to his message centred around jobs.

The yatra itself came close on the heels of Tejashwi’s impressive speech in the Bihar Assembly, gently ribbing Nitish for making another U-turn, to ditch the RJD and form a government with the BJP. An impassioned Tejashwi showed traces of Lalu’s gift of the gab as he made his point without showing any disrespect to Nitish – mindful both of the lasting goodwill for the JD(U) leader in a state that has known only him as CM for nearly 18 years, and on the vote he holds that can pass on to the RJD.

Rather, Tejashwi drew on the Ramayana to ensure his message hit home, with not just Nitish but also his new friend BJP.

“My Dasarath (Nitish) has exiled me… not to the jungles, but to the people’s court,” Tejashwi said, adding that it was now Nitish who needed to be cautious, “of his political Kaikeyi (back-stabber)”.

However, a reality check was already waiting for Tejashwi as the Yatra concluded: it’s been only a few days of the new government, and seven MLAs of the Mahagathbandhan – five