The “son of Mallah” is showing his strength to his bigger allies ahead of the high-staked Bihar assembly polls. But even as the BJP is sending out feelers to him, the Mahagathbandhan feels that he won’t go anywhere.
While the larger allies RJD and Congress feel that “past experiences” may stop Mukesh Sahani from doing a repeat of 2020 – he had stormed out of the grand alliance after his Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) was offered no seats, his bargaining tactics have definitely made his allies nervous.
His latest demand- declare him a deputy CM face- has now nudged a section of the Mahagathbandhan leaders to spread information in friendly media that there will be three deputy CMs if the alliance is chosen to power. No official statement has been made on the same.
From 60 to 35 seats- how VIP’s demands have come down
While the VIP chief had been demanding as many as 60 seats from the MGB initially, Sahani has now lowered his demands to around 35 seats or a little over 30.
But his demand that he be declared as the deputy CM face has made his alliance partners nervous, especially the Congress.
So much so that a section of Bihar Congress leaders are of the opinion that Sahani is raking these demands on the RJD’s signal.
There is a larger understanding within the Congress that no CM or deputy CM face be declared by the Mahagathbandhan before elections. However, Sahani has repeatedly insisted that RJD founder Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav will be the CM if the Mahagathbandhan comes to power, the deputy CM will be “son of a mallah (fisherman)”- a community to which Sahani belongs.
“The name of the captain is yet to be declared but the vice-captain has already claimed his post,” a Bihar Congress leader quipped.
The leader further said that the VIP chief’s demand helps the RJD and speculated that Sahani may be raking the demand at the behest of the RJD given that he has repeatedly declared that Tejashwi Yadav will be the CM and he himself will be the deputy CM in case the Mahagathbandhan rises to power.
NDA sends feelers to VIP chief but RJD confident he will stick
While the NDA is also sending feelers to the VIP chief Mukesh Sahani and has reportedly offered him “winnable seats” and post of the deputy CM, Sahani told mediapersons on Wednesday that even the BJP had conceded that “Mukesh Sahani will form the government wherever he goes.”
He later posted on X that even the BJP had conceded that “the Mahagathbandhan will form the government” in Bihar.
However, the RJD is ready to offer only around 15 or at maximum 18 seats to the VIP, sources in the RJD said.
“Mukesh Sahani had switched to the NDA last time. Four MLAs of his party managed to win but he himself lost his seat. He has himself conceded several times that he lost due to polarization of voters in the Simri Bakhtiyarpur constituency which happened because of his alliance with the BJP. He is yet to prove electoral mettle and we believe he will stick around. These tactics are common to bargain ahead of any elections,” an RJD leader told TDG.
But a section of Bihar Congress leaders feel that Sahani is in fact reading from the RJD’s script to pressurize the Congress.
“Sahani may be raking the demand to declare himself as the deputy CM to pressurize the Congress. It is possible that this is happening at the RJD’s signal to ensure that the Congress settles for lesser than 58 seats. The Congress should get at least 60 seats,” a Bihar Congress leader said.
Another Bihar Congress leader said that the RJD and the VIP may be behind the news stories about the Mahagathbandhan planning three deputy CMs from all the three parties.
Several new stories have speculated that the Mahagathbandhan is mulling over having three deputy CMs- one from the Left, one from Congress and one from the VIP to ensure representation of the three coalition partners if the Mahagathbandhan comes to power.
However, a Bihar Congress leader said that there is no official announcement about this and this may only be an attempt to ensure that the Congress comes on board and accepts around 50-55 seats.
Asked about the same, a senior RJD leader said that the three deputy CM formula is not official as of now.
Why Mukesh Sahani matters?
Sahani represents the Nishad community which makes up approximately 9.6 per cent of Bihar’s population as per the data of the 2023 Bihar caste survey.
Apart from the Mallah caste group of Sahani who make up about 2.6 per cent of the larger Nishad community, there are other sub castes among the Nishads who have a sizeable presence in Darbhanga, Madhubani, Khagaria and Muzaffarpur districts. Other sub castes among Nishads include the Binds, Kewats, Turhas and Manjhis.
Sahani had fought the 2020 elections with the NDA but all of his party’s four MLAs had joined the BJP. He had later parted ways from the NDA coalition.
The Bollywood set designer-turned-politician had entered politics in 2013 when he supported the BJP. In the 2015 Bihar assembly polls, he had shared the stage with PM Narendra Modi and he was spotted with now- Union Home Minister Amit Shah in election meetings.
After the polls, Sahani floated his own party, the VIP and what marked this formation was a front-page advertisement where he was introduced as the “Son of Mallah”. While his party won four seats in the 2020 polls, one of his MLAs died and other three joined the BJP.
But what upset Sahani was the fact that he himself could not win his election.
However, his political story turned sour when he started attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the UP assembly elections which led to BJP leaders launching a tirade against Sahani and CM Nitish Kumar oustered him from his cabinet where he had been serving as the minister for fisheries and animal husbandry.
But come 2025 and Mukesh Sahani seems to have proven his relevance again thanks to the fact that he has become a symbol of the Nishad community. His demand for being declared as the deputy CM has reportedly become the last hurdle in the declaration of the seat-sharing arrangement in the Mahagathbandhan.
Sofia Babu Chacko is a journalist with over five years of experience covering Indian politics, crime, human rights, gender issues, and stories about marginalized communities. She believes that every voice matters, and journalism has a vital role to play in amplifying those voices. Sofia is committed to creating impact and shedding light on stories that truly matter. Beyond her work in the newsroom, she is also a music enthusiast who enjoys singing.
