From 2020 To 2025: Mukesh Sahani's 25-Seat, Deputy Chief Minister Demands

Five years ago, Mukesh Sahani jumped from the Mahagathbandhan - a week before the first phase of voting for the Bihar election - to ally with the BJP and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United.

A Bollywood technician-turned-politician, Sahani declared himself 'betrayed' after his Vikassheel Insaan Party was 'sidelined'. He wanted 25 seats, he said, and the post of Deputy Chief Minister. The VIP was, instead, told it would be adjusted within the 144 set aside for Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal.

A furious Sahani walked out of the opposition camp, taking with him the sizeable support he commands from the Mallah community, and walked into the BJP's waiting arms.

Eventually he got neither, even if he did wind up on the winning side of that particular election.

The VIP did not claim anywhere near enough seats to stake claim to that powerful post, although Sahani was made a minister - Animal Husbandry & Fisheries - on the recommendation of the BJP.

On Thursday, almost to the day, Sahani very nearly repeated history.

At Patna's Hotel Maurya, Mahagathbandhan leaders were gathered, ready to announce Yadav as the alliance's chief ministerial face. Up in his suite in the same hotel, Sahani sat fuming.

His demands for the 2025 Bihar election were identical - 25 seats and a deputy's role.

Sahani with senior BJP figures, including Devendra Fadnavis and the late Sushil Modi (File).

And this time, he would not be denied. At least, not completely.

Alliance chiefs were aware Sahani - who commands the support of the Mallah, Sahani, and Nishad communities and the consequent nine per cent electoral weight - was again being courted by the BJP.

In 2020 the BJP-JDU's margin of victory was 15 seats.

Four of those were won by Sahani's VIP on its electoral debut. The party came second in six, three of which it lost by margin of fewer than 7,000 votes. The total vote share? 1.52 per cent.

Had the Mahagathbandhan retained Sahani, those four seats would not have been enough. The JDU-BJP might still have won, but it would have been closer than it was, and it was very close.

Tejashwi Yadav (L) was confirmed as the opposition's chief ministerial candidate

Maybe one or two of the closer races might have turned in the VIP's favour, and maybe the Sahani factor could have influenced adjacent seats to turn towards the Mahagathbandhan.

Ahead of the 2025 election, therefore, surely the opposition would not see Mukesh Sahani walk out again. In fact, it almost did. The Mahagathbandhan refused, again, to allot 20+ seats and the BJP was hovering, reportedly ready to offer the VIP leader a few choice seats to jump, again.

Seat-share talks had rumbled on for days, driven partly by Sahani's demand.

Eventually he relented, agreeing to accept 15 Assembly seats with two legislative council and one Rajya Sabha seat as extras. But, as it turned out, he would not give up the Deputy Chief Minister's role.

Sources told NDTV Sahani refused to leave his Hotel Maurya suite to attend the presser, at which Tejashwi Yadav was to be named as the alliance's chief ministerial candidate.

The message was clear - 'if Yadav is to be the face of the alliance, I will be his deputy. Or I go'.

"I agreed to less than 25 seats (the VIP has accepted an allotment of 15 seats) because I thought I would get the post of Deputy Chief Minister. If this doesn't happen, how can I face my supporters? How can I go to my supporters and ask for votes?" was his notice to alliance chiefs.

After brief panic stations, the matter was settled. Sahani remained with the Mahagathbandhan and could, if Tejashwi Yadav can go one better than 2020, take oath as a Deputy Chief Minister.

It is a curious case. Sahani's VIP won four seats in the last election, but it has no MLAs. One -Musafir Paswan - died a year into his term and the other quit to join the BJP.

And Sahani himself is 0/2 in elections he has contested, losing his race in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 Bihar polls. So why is the 'son of Mallah' in demand?

A man who transitioned from Bollywood to politics, he has embodied the hopes of the Mallah community, which is spread across Bihar but is a crucial vote bank in the Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, and Madhubani regions north of Patna, and east too, towards Seemanchal.

VIP chief Sahani has influence over the larger Nishad community in Bihar (File).

And it isn't just this community.

The Mallahs are a sub-caste of the Nishad community, and Sahani, the 'son of Mallah', also appeals to the broader grouping, which includes many sub-castes, such as the Bind, Beldar, and Kewat.

All of that constitutes quite a large chunk of voters!