While the third meeting of the Grand Alliance held in Patna on Sunday concluded without naming a chief ministerial candidate, the alliance partners sent out a clear message that all the parties are united and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav would be the supreme leader of the alliance.

The banner placed as the backdrop had a portrait of Tejashwi Yadav along with election symbols of all alliance partners. The presence of only Tejashwi’s picture on the banner is being considered a big political signal and the alliance’s strategy to present the RJD leader as the face of the chief minister.

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The presence of top leaders of all the constituents of the alliance, including RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI Bihar Secretary Ram Naresh Pandey, Vikasheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahni proved that they had no objection to promoting Tejashwi as the CM face of the alliance.

After the meeting, Tejashwi told journalists that there was no confusion among the Grand Alliance partners. Whoever is leading the alliance now will continue to lead even after the election.

He took a dig at the CM face of NDA saying, “Confusion is palpable among the NDA partners. The person, who is the chief minister now, will not become chief minister again, because the BJP will not let this happen.”

The RJD leader announced that the Left parties have called for Bharat Bandh on 20 May, which will be supported by all partners of the alliance.

Tejashwi Yadav said that the Left parties expressed concern over the current situation in the country, following which CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya made a call for Bharat Bandh on 20 May to highlight the plights of labourers.

 “All the constituents of the Grand Alliance will support the Bharat Bandh. We will express our protest by taking to the streets,” he added.

The Bharat Bandh is expected to be used by the alliance to show its strength in Bihar before the elections.

Apart from the top leaders of the constituent parties, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, state officials, district presidents and general secretary-level officials of these parties were also present at the meeting, where they discussed strategies to convince party workers and their supporters on the ground to remain united in the fight against the NDA.

The alliance partners will organise joint meetings in every district, block and panchayat. A sub-committee will be formed which will prepare an action plan for these meetings and execute it successfully.