India, Oct. 13 -- Will it be the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that will assume office in Patna on November 14, when the Bihar assembly election results are announced? Or will it be the Mahagathbandhan (a phalanx of the larger Opposition alliance, the INDIA bloc, in Bihar)? There's also a third player that is keenly watched - the Jan Suraaj Party, founded by pollster Prashant Kishor, who may emerge as a kingmaker. The upcoming polls are a high-stakes battle for the big players in the state - the BJP, its allies the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), and the Lok Janshakti Party- Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP-RVP), and, on the other side, the Congress and its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Hectic discussions are on among alliance partners to iron out differences and finalise seat deals as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, there has been considerable excitement in the Opposition ranks over the camaraderie between the INDIA bloc's three relatively young leaders - the RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress's Rahul Gandhi, and the Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav (from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh). Relegating the complexities of their parties' individual political aspirations to the backseat, the first two have travelled across the state along with the third, drawing crowds. The BJP, for its part, is determined to crack the state which it has never won without an ally. The Congress has experience of ruling the state on its own, for the better part of the period from Independence to 1990. Thereafter, the Mandal parties - RJD and JD(U) - took charge. The three INDIA bloc leaders seem to have generated hope among those in the state who seek political change. Ideologically though, this chunk of the population doesn't seem averse to CM Nitish Kumar and LJP leader Chirag Paswan - BJP allies in the state and the Centre. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the founders of RJD, SP and LJP - Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan - came together to fight the BJP and JD(U). Now, Lalu Prasad is ailing and fighting corruption cases, while Mulayam and Ram Vilas Paswan are no more. The baton has passed to their sons - Tejashwi, Akhilesh, and Chirag, respectively. Significantly, the BJP may be eyeing Bihar but not necessarily the crown after the setback in UP in the 2024 general election. Given how this was in sharp contrast to its performance in Bihar, winning 30 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar with allies, the BJP leadership understands the indispensability of chief minister Nitish Kumar and his party, the JD(U) to the NDA. However, despite provocations from Prashant Kishor, the leadership has so far avoided announcing a CM face for the NDA. The BJP has not revealed its cards yet and by keeping Nitish in good humour, it can be confident of Kurmi support. In successive elections, the BJP leadership has surprised all with their ability to manage cross-caste support and booths. Coming to the Mahagathbandhan, the big question is can Tejashwi and company replicate the INDIA bloc's 2024 performance in UP in Bihar? Surely, he can learn from Akhilesh, who tempered his Yadav allegiance when it came to ticket distribution, with eyes on larger gains. Though neither the NDA nor the Mahagathbandhan have announced their CM faces, the post is politically critical for Tejashwi, should his alliance win. It can help silence detractors within his extended family and allow him to take complete control of the RJD. There are some hiccups here as the Congress has grown ambitious. There is some commentary about Rahul Gandhi's silence on a CM face being a strategic choice given that some castes such as the Dalits and the Brahmins may be willing to return to the Congress fold after decades of estrangement, but could turn away in the event of a Yadav-dominated RJD at the helm of affairs. The Dalit vote is also a complicated bloc. In UP-2024, the alliance between the Congress and the SP helped the INDIA bloc win over Dalits. However, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati - after the party's lacklustre showing in UP - has sent her nephew Akash Anand to Bihar, who could cut into the Mahagathbandhan's Dalit votes: The LJP's Paswan vote base is unlikely to be threatened by the BSP. Will Tejashwi back some powerful Dalit leaders as Akhilesh did in UP? All this said, the coming together of the three leaders for the Vote Adhikar (Voting Rights) rally - in response to the Special Intensive Revision exercise in Bihar - has dispelled doubts about Opposition unity. However, there are other significant challenges facing the Mahagathbandhan: Apart from the charge of dynastic politics, the Congress and the RJD must battle a narrative of Muslim appeasement. In addition, Tejashwi will also have to fight the gundaraj (lawlessness) tag that dogs his father's tenure as Bihar CM - a problem that Akhilesh faced in UP, with regard to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav's stint as CM. Tejashwi can draw lessons from Akhilesh here. Given the gundaraj image was strongly associated with Yadav domination in UP, Akhilesh moved to dilute this charge by implementing his "pichda-Dalit-alpsankhyak" (backward, Scheduled Castes, and minorities) formula in letter and spirit when it came to ticket distribution. Tejashwi and Lalu, on the other hand, failed to keep their promise of giving due representation to all castes in the 2024 general elections. Can the Tejashwi-Rahul-Akhilesh trio convert the Vote Adhikar turnout into votes? They are all young leaders, and unemployment is a major issue in Bihar. The perception is that it is the youth who will likely decide this election as the women vote may get divided along caste lines. But, Prashant Kishor, too, has been consistently raising the unemployment issue over the past several months. The game has only just begun....