Mukesh Sahani of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) lost in two elections – 2019 Lok Sabha from Khagaria and 2020 parliamentary elections from Simri Bakhtiyarpur. File | Photo credit: PTI
For Mukesh Sahani of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), life has come full circle. Five years ago, he walked out of a Mahagatbandhan press conference claiming that the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) had “stabbed him in the back”. On Thursday (October 23, 2025), sharing the podium with almost the same group of leaders, he was anointed the deputy chief ministerial face of the opposition alliance.
VIP’s electoral performance since its inception in 2018 has not been very impressive. It currently has no legislator in the Bihar Assembly. Mr. Sahani lost two elections – 2019 Lok Sabha from Khagaria and 2020 parliamentary election from Simri Bakhtiyarpur. In the 243-seat assembly, VIPs are competing for only 15 seats.
Despite this, Mr. Sahani earned a public assurance from the Mahagatbandhan that he would become the Deputy Chief Minister if the alliance wins. The decision is aimed at clearing all possible votes, especially in North Bihar where the Mahagatbandhan had a dismal performance in 2020.
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Mr. Sahani has influence on the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) vote. EBCs – a disparate caste group – form a substantial 30% of Bihar’s electorate. According to the 2023 State Caste Survey, the Nishads, or boatmen community, constitute about 9.6% of the same, with the Mallah sub-caste being among the Nishads to which Mr. Sahani belongs, accounting for 2.6% of the population. The decision could impact other smaller communities such as Bind, Manjhi, Beldah, Kewat and Turha. These communities could prove decisive in Mithila, Koshi and Champaran regions.
A school dropout, Mr. Sahani studied up to the 8th standard. He left home at the age of 19 to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. After small jobs, he managed to find solid ground under his feet as a scenographer. His company Mukesh Cine World Private Limited boasts projects like Shah Rukh Khan starrer Devdas (2002) and Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) among many films.
The transition from movies to politics was not easy. In 2010, he founded the Sahani Samaj Kalyan Sanstha. Seeing the crowds he was gathering, the BJP roped him in as an activist for the 2015 assembly elections. He founded VIP in July 2018.
In the Lok Sabha polls a year later, Mahagatbandhan offered VIP three seats. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept Bihar and barring the lone Congress MP from Kishanganje, no Mahagatbandhan candidate could win.
On 4 October 2020, in a similar setting to Thursday’s press conference, RJD leader and chief ministerial face of the Mahagatbandhan Tejashwi Yadav said that VIPs would get seats from his own party’s quota, without specifying the number. As soon as Mr. Yadav finished speaking, the VIP supporters started raising slogans. Mr. Sahani was given the microphone to call for calm. Instead, he dramatically declared that he had been “stabbed”. One of his key demands at the time was securing the post of deputy minister. He left the Mahagatbandhan to join the ruling NDA.
The VIP won four of the 11 seats it contested under the NDA, although Mr. Sahani did not win the Simri-Bakhtiyarpur assembly constituency. Despite the loss, he was accommodated in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet in which he served as Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries from 16 November 2020 to 27 March 2022. Three of the four VIP MLAs defected to the BJP mid-term of the assembly. Lamenting the betrayal, Mr. Sahani returned to Mahagatbandhan in April 2024.
Published – 23 October 2025 21:50 IST
