VIP chief Mukesh Sahani named Mahagathbandhan’s deputy CM nominee for Bihar 2025; caste math, seat-sharing tension and Rahul Gandhi’s intervention explained.
Mukesh Sahani, leader of the Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP), was on Thursday declared the Mahagathbandhan’s nominee for deputy chief minister in the 2025 Bihar assembly elections — a choice that underlines the alliance’s focus on caste arithmetic and widening its base beyond traditional voters. Sahani’s rise from a fisherman’s family to VIP chief gives him credibility in pockets where the Nishad community (about 2.5% of Bihar’s population) is influential along the Ganga belt, and party strategists believe even modest Nishad consolidation can swing close contests.
The decision was not without drama: VIP nearly walked out over a bitter seat-sharing row and had to be pacified after direct intervention by Rahul Gandhi, underscoring the fragile negotiations that shape pre-poll alliances. Sahani himself will not contest a seat — he has nominated his brother Santosh from Gaura Bauram — while VIP will fight roughly 15 seats, yet his public elevation is meant to signal representation for backward and marginalised communities and to deny the BJP easy gains among riverine voters.
Sahani’s political journey — from an early BJP ally endorsed in 2015 to a minister in the NDA government and then a breakaway critic — makes him a symbolic bridge for voters disillusioned with mainstream parties. The Mahagathbandhan hopes his inclusion strengthens ground mobilisation in target districts and complicates BJP calculations in tight three-way fights. With polling on November 6 and 11 and results due November 14, the deputy-CM announcement is timed to sharpen the alliance’s narrative of social justice and inclusive representation.
