Bihar boasts of one of the most fascinating political histories in India. As the state heads to Assembly polls later this month, The Indian Express brings a series of articles that tell the history of Bihar politics through the tenure of its 23 chief ministers. This article tells the story of Daroga Prasad Rai, Bihar’s 10th CM.After Harihar Singh, whom we wrote about in the last article in this series, Bhola Paswan Shastri served as the CM again, this time lasting for all of 10 days, stepping down on July 4, 1969.This was because of a much bigger change taking shape at the national level — the Congress party had split, with one faction, Congress (R), under Indira Gandhi, and the other, Congress (O), under Kamraj.This triggered another round of President’s Rule in Bihar, with the Assembly kept in suspended animation. Harihar Singh remained the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, staying with Congress (O).President’s Rule lasted for over six months. During this time, two inquiry commissions submitted reports: the Aiyar Commission (set up by Mahamaya Prasad Sinha’s government) and the Mudholkar Commission (established by BP Mandal’s administration). Both found several ministers from prior governments guilty of favouritism and misuse of official position. This created an atmosphere of deep suspicion in state politics. To add to the instability, several state Congress leaders were flitting from one national camp to the other.In early January 1970, several Congress MLAs submitted a representation to the Governor, disavowing Congress (O) under Harihar Singh and electing Daroga Prasad Rai, who was with Congress (R), as their leader.Efforts by the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) to form an alternative government failed. Rai demonstrated majority support and was invited to form the government, finally taking oath as Chief Minister on February 16, 1970.Heading a large coalitionStory continues below this adThe Daroga Prasad Rai coalition government initially included six partners: Congress (R), a faction of Praja Socialist Party (PSP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Shoshit Dal, Hul Jharkhand, and Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD). The Loktantrik Congress Dal (LCD) of ex-CM Binodanand Jha joined later. Opposition parties comprised the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS), a PSP faction, Raja Kamakhya Narain Singh’s Janata Party, Congress (O), Swatantra Party, and a Shoshit Dal faction led by BP Mandal.The pattern of instability, ongoing since Mahamaya Prasad Sinha’s tenure, persisted. SSP leader Ramanand Tewari moved a no-confidence motion on December 15, 1970, which was debated on December 18. After intense exchanges among the ruling and Opposition members, voting saw 164 MLAs in favor and 146 against the no-confidence motion, with some floor-crossing. Thus, Rai’s government lost the mandate. He resigned the same day, ending his nearly 10-month stint.Rai had expanded the cabinet six times to placate coalition partners and avert internal conflicts, but to no avail.By this time, national and state-level changes had reshaped the Congress. The old guard trio —KB Sahay, Mahesh Prasad Sinha, and Satyendra Narain Sinha—was waning. The rising influential figures included Union Minister Lalit Narain Mishra and Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav. They orchestrated Rai’s downfall: when the initial pressure to replace him as CLP leader failed, the no-confidence vote was brought in.Story continues below this adThe 1967 and 1969 Assemblies thus highlighted coalition governance challenges in Bihar. Successive ministries, formed by varying alliances, rose and fell due to partnership frictions, defections, and power struggles.Born in 1922 in a Yadav family in Saran district, Rai entered the Bihar Assembly in 1952 on a Congress ticket from Parsa constituency. He retained the seat in 1957, 1962, 1967 (amid an anti-Congress wave), 1969 mid-term polls, and also 1972.He lost the seat only in 1977 during the Janata Party wave but reclaimed it in 1980.Daroga Prasad Rai died in April 1981. His family is still active in politics — one of his sons, Chandrika Rai, served as minister in Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) governments. Chandrika’s daughter Aishwarya was married to Lalu Prasad’s elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav. Following their matrimonial dispute, Chandrika joined the JD(U) in 2020.Next: The socialist everyone wants to claim, Karpoori Thakur