New Delhi: In a calibrated move to breach the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Yadav bastion, the Bharatiya Janata Party has deployed Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav as a star campaigner for the Bihar Assembly elections.
The soft-spoken OBC leader, who rose unexpectedly to the top post in December 2023, is being projected as the BJP’s “Yadav face” to counter Tejashwi Yadav’s influence among the state’s dominant Yadav electorate.
Mohan Yadav launched his campaign in Bihar on October 16 with rallies in Patna’s Kumhrar and Bikram constituencies, pitching development over caste politics.
“Under PM Modi’s vision, Bihar is rising from the ashes of RJD’s jungle raj. Yadavs, like every Bihari, deserve vikas, not vote-bank politics,” he told cheering crowds.
He has since addressed rallies in Hisua, Gaya, Saharsa, West Champaran and Bagaha. According to BJP sources, around two dozen election rallies of Mohan Yadav are to be slated before November 11 in Yadav-dominated belts of Magadh and Seemanchal in Bihar.
Yadav’s presence signals a deeper BJP strategy to chip away at RJD’s Yadav vote share, which has remained largely intact since the 1990s.
The community forms around 14 per cent of Bihar’s electorate. A senior BJP functionary said the party has “entrusted Mohan Yadav to dent the RJD base” while simultaneously focusing on non-Yadav OBCs—a formula that worked successfully for the party in the recent Haryana polls.
However, the approach carries risks. The NDA has fielded only 14 Yadav candidates this time, including just five from the BJP—down from 16 in 2020. Denial of tickets to veterans like Nand Kishore Yadav and Mishrilal Yadav has triggered murmurs of discontent within the ranks. Meanwhile, the RJD has fielded 50 Yadav candidates, reinforcing its caste base.
Yet, local surveys indicate that Mohan Yadav’s outreach may be making a modest impact, with a 5–7 per cent swing of Yadav voters towards the NDA in urban pockets. Political observers say a strong NDA performance could elevate Mohan Yadav’s stature as the BJP’s most prominent Yadav face in Hindi lands.
Polling in Bihar will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14.