The Mahagathbandhan’s deputy chief minister nominee for the 2025 Bihar assembly election is Mukesh Sahani, who previously designed sets for Salman Khan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Shah Rukh Khan in Devdas.
Shortly after being selected as the deputy chief minister face, with Tejashwi of the RJD serving as the chief minister face, the leader of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) declared, “I had been waiting for this moment for three-and-a-half long years.” Sahani, who was born into a fishing family in Darbhanga in 1981, was dubbed the “Son of Mallah” in honour of his local boatmen and fishermen.
According to India Today, he left Bihar at the age of 19, worked as a salesperson in Mumbai, and then made his Bollywood debut as a set designer, working on blockbusters like “Devdas” and “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” while operating his own business, Mukesh Cine World Private Limited.
But by 2013, he claimed to have returned to Bihar “to fight for the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs),” who comprise more than one-third of the state’s population, after being inspired by figures such as BR Ambedkar and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur. During the 2020 assembly elections, Sahani was a member of the NDA; however, he departed later that year when his MLAs joined the BJP.
Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot declared Mukesh Sahani as the deputy chief minister of the opposition alliance on Thursday in Bihar. In order to run for at least 11 seats in the next assembly elections, Sahani’s VIP, a crucial partner in the Grand Alliance, reached a seat-sharing arrangement with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left. Although the official division has not yet been declared, he has chosen 15 candidates.
Mukesh Sahani is still significant to the Mahagathbandhan even though the Nishads, or Sahani’s community, make up only 2.5% of Bihar’s population and VIPs only run for 15 of the state’s 243 seats. As a result, the Mahagathbandhan is strategically trying to increase its appeal among underprivileged and marginalised populations by designating him as the deputy chief minister.
After complaining over the seat-sharing arrangement, the VIP almost left the Mahagathbandhan, according to sources quoted by news agency PTI. Only when Rahul Gandhi stepped in did the party resolve to remain. Sahani is seen as a leader who has broad sway over voters in several constituencies.