Congress leader Sachin Pilot says Grand Alliance will decide CM face after the election results in Bihar

AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot sparks controversy over CM face for Bihar election, criticizes NDA government for unemployment.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Sachin Pilot on Friday (April 11, 2025) triggered a row by declaring that the Chief Ministerial face of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress led alliance will be decided after winning the Assembly election in Bihar.

Mr. Pilot’s statement came at a time when RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav declared himself the CM candidate of the Grand Alliance in the upcoming election due in October-November.

Mr. Pilot was in Patna to join the concluding day of ‘Naukri Do, Palayan Roko’ (Give Employment, Stop Migration) foot march along with National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) national in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar.

“The election [for Bihar] has not been declared yet. When the date of the election would be declared, the alliance will contest the election. The alliance will win the election with a majority and then the CM face would be decided,” Mr. Pilot said when asked about RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s acceptance of his son as the CM face during the press conference.

The top RJD leaders have been continuously saying that Mr. Yadav will be the CM if voted to power including, Mr. Prasad. Mr Prasad even went one step ahead by saying that no one can stop his son from becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar in the Assembly election.

Mr. Pilot, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, is not the only Congress leader who has given a vague answer or not accepted Mr. Yadav as the CM face of the Opposition in Bihar.

Earlier, Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru had expressed a similar view over the CM face of the coalition. Whenever media asks Mr. Allavaru, he has distanced himself from endorsing Mr. Yadav as the CM face. Every time, he said that Congress will emerge stronger in Bihar.