The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) released its Bihar election manifesto with Tejashwi Yadav prominently featured on the cover, while Rahul Gandhi’s image appeared only as a small thumbnail.
The BJP mocked the design, claiming it showed Congress’s diminished status within the alliance and that RJD had sidelined Gandhi.
Congress dismissed the controversy, saying the focus should be on issues, not images, and argued that the poster design had little impact on young voters.
The opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar has launched its election manifesto ahead of the 2025 assembly polls — and the cover image choice is already raising eyebrows.
While the document prominently features Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), his ally, Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress, appears only as a small thumbnail in the top-left corner. The disparity comes as no surprise: when Gandhi’s image was previously missing altogether from opposition publicity material, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken public jabs at the alliance.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla was quick to volley a critique via social media:
“Joint PC? But only one picture. Rahul Gandhi & Congress ka ‘samman chori’. Showed Congress & Rahul his place?”
He accused the RJD of forcing the Congress to accept Tejashwi as its chief ministerial face, and claimed the RJD had issued a “chilling threat” that the Congress would get “zero seats” if it didn’t comply.
In response, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera defended the arrangement: since Gandhi is not the CM candidate in Bihar, his prominent presence on the cover was not compulsory. On the question of differing images, Khera said the poster design “does not even register with the state’s young voters”.
The manifesto rollout thus marks an early visual statement by the alliance — underlining not just their policy agenda, but also internal dynamics of image-sharing and political messaging. While the Mahagathbandhan may have scored a procedural advantage by being first to issues its manifesto ahead of the NDA, the optics could also feed into larger questions of alliance cohesion and hierarchy.
As the election campaign unfolds in Bihar, especially with assembly polls around the corner, the faith of partner parties and the narrative each projects will be just as closely watched as the manifesto’s content.
