PATNA: The INDIA bloc has finally yielded ground to Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani, who was on Thursday formally announced as deputy chief ministerial face of the Opposition alliance for the Bihar Assembly elections.
It has been a meteoric rise for 44-year-old Sahani. Starting as a Bollywood set designer, he chose politics as his next career, formed a new party in 2018, contested 2020 Assembly elections as part of NDA and finally ended up as a hard bargainer in the 2025 state polls.
Sahani’s party has no MLA in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. Better known as ‘Son of Mallah’, Sahani is now with INDIA bloc comprising the RJD, Congress and three Left parties—CPI-ML, CPI, CPI(M). He comes from Mallah (fishermen) community, an EBC, which constitutes nearly 2.5% of Bihar’s population, as per the caste survey conducted in 2022-23. Mallahs, Sahanis and Nishads constitute nearly 9% of the state’s population. The VIP chief is expected to tilt their votes towards the INDIA bloc.
Mallahs, a sub-caste of Nishad community, are spread across the state but have influence in certain constituencies in north Bihar, particularly Mithilanchal and Seemanchal regions. Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Supaul, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Kishanganj, Saharsa, Khagaria, East Champaran and West Champaran are among districts where fishermen have sizeable population.
Elated over being named as INDIA bloc’s deputy CM face, Sahani targeted BJP, saying, “BJP ko jab tak hum todenge nahi, tab tak chhodenge nahi (I will not let go until I cause a split in BJP).” Sahani said that he had been waiting for the moment (being declared deputy CM face) for the last three and a half years.
He narrated how his MLAs were poached by the BJP after he raised the issue of reservation for fishermen in Bihar and other states. “I have not forgotten the moment when I was dropped from the Nitish cabinet, and my MLAs were poached by BJP. I had vowed then to teach BJP a lesson at an opportune time. And that time has come,” he told this reporter.
In the 2020 Assembly elections, four VIP candidates won. In November 2021, its Bochahan MLA Musafir Sahni died. In the by-election, the BJP fielded its candidate on the seat earlier held by VIP. Moreover, Sahani’s decision to contest elections in Uttar Pradesh against the BJP strained their relationship.
Barely a week before the first phase of the Assembly elections in 2020, Sahani had jumped from the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) and aligned with the BJP and JD(U). He had then accused RJD and its allies of “betrayal” as his party was sidelined in the seat-sharing deal.
But after his bitter experience with the BJP after 2020 elections, he again aligned with RJD-Congress-led Mahagathandhan and is eyeing better performance in the Assembly polls to be held on November 6 and 11. Sahani initially demanded 25 seats and a deputy CM post but has to settle with 15 seats and deputy CM post.
VIP chief likely to tip poll scales in favour of INDIA
Sahani’s party has no MLA in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. Better known as ‘Son of Mallah’, Sahani is now with INDIA bloc comprising the RJD, Congress and three Left parties—CPI-ML, CPI, CPI(M). He comes from Mallah (fishermen) community, an EBC, which constitutes nearly 2.5% of Bihar’s population, as per the caste survey conducted in 2022-23. Mallahs, Sahanis and Nishads constitute nearly 9% of the state’s population. The VIP chief is expected to tilt their votes towards INDIA.
