The two young leaders will be playing a much more pronounced role now. They are leading two important caste groups - the Yadavs and the Dalits - in Bihar, estimated to be about 24 to 30 percent of the electorate. To their advantage, their fathers have declared both the leaders as their political heirs.

The 39-year-old Tejaswi is the leader of the opposition alliance called Mahagadbandhan (Grand Alliance). Congress, the CPI, CPI –M, and some smaller parties are part of the coalition. This will be facing the formidable ruling JD (U) –BJP alliance.

Tejaswi is young, ambitious, and articulate and has learned some tricks of politics from his father. He grabbed the opportunity and quickly moved to neutralize his opponents.

Tejaswi has many challenges ahead. The first is to keep the flock together. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a close confidant of Lalu Yadav, resigned as the party’s vice president and left the party just before his death last month. Resenting voices of senior leaders like Shivanand Tiwari, and some MLAs are leaving RJD and joining Nitish Kumar’s JDU.

Though Tejashwi has inherited Lalu’s name, his identity, and his political legacy, we have to see whether he inherits his vote bank also. Lalu had carefully built up the Yadav – Muslim (MY) vote bank. With his one action of halting BJP leader L.K.Advani’s famous Rath Yatra in 1990, he has claimed the secular credentials. In all probability this vote bank will remain with Tejaswi.

Then there is the youth vote. There are four crore young voters who should be targeted. Tejaswi has built up his social media platforms, posters, slogans, and election songs. Though he has studied only up to 9 th standard, he is also proficient in English.

Tejaswi has a long way to go as he lacks political shrewdness, Secondly, he has nothing much to show about his achievements as he was the Deputy chief minister only for 20 months.

Thirdly, Lalu overlooked the claims of his elder son Tejapratap Yadav and daughter Misa Bharti and declared Tejaswi as his political heir, which has created jealousy, and trouble in the family. Tejaswi has to sort out this.

Fourthly, Tejaswi got a position on a silver platter. He became the deputy chief minister at the age of 26 and is now waiting to become the chief minister. When the Mahagadbandhan ended in 2017, he became the leader of the opposition and now the leader of the Grand Alliance. Now is the time to show his leadership.

Chiraq’s story is different. He wanted to become a film actor but on second thoughts he joined his father in politics and soon rose to become the party chief. He has been involved in many crucial decisions of the party including the recent decision to go solo in Bihar Assembly polls leaving the Nitish-led NDA in Bihar.

Ram Vilas Paswan was known as a weathercock and he had worked with eight prime ministers serving in their cabinets for decades. His death last week would help Chirag Paswan in boosting the party but we will have to see how he translates the sympathy factor into votes. Chiraq is yet to emerge as a new Dalit icon like his father. He will also face a new challenge to galvanize the workers and consolidate his position. He should be able to make his voters believe that he is the right person to fill up the space left by his father. In Bihar, Dalits comprise over 17 percent of the population and they are one of the game-changers. While Paswan could keep his Dalit constituency in tact, by going "solo", Chirag Paswan will be allowing the LJP's rank and file to contest the election on a much bigger scale and expand its organizational footprint. Rumours say that he also sealed a kind of deal with the BJP for the post election scenario.

The two leaders will be facing a formidable combination of JD (U) and the BJP who have established leadership, experience, money power, muscle power, and electoral machinery. If they are not able to benefit by their father’s legacy who will benefit? Could it be the JD (U) or the BJP or the Congress? Probably both might keep their flock together if they play their cards well. Or else their voters might move away. (IPA Service)