Ahead of the Mahagathbandhan press meet in Patna, during which Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav may be named the alliance’s Chief Ministerial face for the Bihar election, the BJP has taken a swipe at the Congress, pointing out that its leader Rahul Gandhi’s photo is missing from the posters for the press conference.
The posters carry on Tejashwi Yadav’s photograph. Congress veteran Ashok Gehlot, who had rushed to Patna to resolve differences between RJD and Congress during the seat-sharing negotiations, is likely to join Tejashwi Yadav at the press conference. After weeks of hard bargaining, the Mahagathbandhan allies will be looking to send a message of unity at the press meet today.
The BJP has taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi’s missing photograph on the poster for the press meet.
“Joint PC? But only one picture. Rahul Gandhi & Congress ka ‘samman chori’. Showed Congress & Rahul his place?” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla posted on X. The ‘samman ka chori’ phrase was a wordplay on Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ campaign that accuses the Election Commission of massive poll irregularities in collusion with the ruling BJP.
Poonawalla also claimed that RJD has “virtually bullied and threatened Congress” to accept Tejaswi Yadav as its face. He added that RJD shot off a “chilling threat” to its ally, saying that it would give the Congress “zero seats” if it did not agree.
“So much for Rahul’s macho man bravadogiri. .. If alliance partners are threatened imagine Janta ke saath kya hoga,” he said, adding, “save the tweet & share if Rahul Gandhi does capitulate”.