Bihar election: Will family feud crush RJD after poll debacle?

The Federal spoke to Prof Sanjay Kumar, Ashok Mishra, and TK Rajalakshmi on a Capital Beat episode to examine how the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) defeat in the Bihar Assembly election has triggered an open family feud in Lalu Prasad Yadav’s household, and what this means for the future of the party and other regional political families.

RJD defeat and public family rift

The discussion began with the immediate backdrop: RJD’s poor performance in the Bihar Assembly polls and the visible fallout within the Lalu Prasad Yadav family.

Four of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughters — Rajalakshmi, Ragini, Hema, and Chanda — reportedly left the family’s Patna residence with their children and travelled to Delhi, signalling a deep rift within the state’s former “first family".

Also Read: RJD family crisis deepens as Lalu Prasad’s four daughters leave Patna

At the same time, questions have been raised about Tejashwi Yadav’s leadership, as he was the face of the Mahagathbandhan campaign and the projected chief ministerial candidate.

Limited political role of Lalu’s daughters

Prof Sanjay Kumar noted that, within the RJD, the daughters have not occupied significant political positions.

He pointed out that only Misa Bharti has a substantial political profile, while Tej Pratap Yadav has already left the party fold and lost his Assembly election.

Also Read: ‘Slipper raised at me’: Rohini blames Tejashwi for family feud after RJD’s Bihar loss

“So, I don’t think that this family feud is going to harm the party a lot,” he said, adding that the episode is nonetheless widely discussed because it followed an electoral defeat.

Prof Kumar mentioned reports that two non-family figures, Sanjay Yadav and a former cricketer referred to as Ramesh, are seen as influential around Tejashwi Yadav in both party and family matters, and that this perception has contributed to tensions within the family.

'Typical of dynastic political families'

Senior journalist Ashok Mishra described the developments as typical of many dynastic political families where a single leader’s legacy is contested by multiple heirs. He compared the situation with other families, such as those of Ram Vilas Paswan and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

He underlined that the political legacy of Lalu Prasad Yadav has effectively passed to Tejashwi Yadav “with the consent of Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi", making Tejashwi “the boss of RJD".

Also Read: Bihar verdict triggers turmoil in RJD and Congress as INDIA bloc weakens

Mishra stressed that other family members, including Tej Pratap Yadav and sisters like Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti, have their own political ambitions, and that the current rift is centred on demands for a “share” in that legacy and on resentment against the perceived influence of Sanjay Yadav and Ramesh.

Resentment against two advisers

On the question of why four daughters moved to Delhi, Mishra described it as an outburst triggered by the party’s defeat. He recalled that Rohini Acharya had earlier contested from Chhapra and lost, and that she has publicly levelled allegations against those around Tejashwi Yadav.

He stated that many RJD leaders and workers object to the clout of Sanjay Yadav and Ramesh, who are seen as outsiders.

Also Read: Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya quits politics, says she is disowning her family

“They should not interfere in the political legacy and the politics of RJD. It should be the family members or the other senior leaders of RJD,” he noted, reflecting the sentiment within sections of the party.

According to Mishra, there is also resentment among long-time RJD leaders who have been with Lalu Prasad Yadav for decades and who oppose the rising influence of these two advisers.

Lalu needs to step in

Mishra reported that Tejashwi Yadav has already held a meeting with RJD MLAs and candidates after the defeat, indicating that he continues to exercise organisational control.

He argued that the feud, if unresolved, “will finally damage the RJD credibility in days to come,” and that Lalu Prasad Yadav may eventually need to “reorganise his family” and clearly affirm that only Tejashwi Yadav will command the party.

At the same time, he emphasised that there are “no other takers” in Bihar’s major parties for Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughters, making it more likely that the dispute will have to be settled within the existing RJD framework.

RJD’s vote base and Tejashwi’s leadership

TK Rajalakshmi took a different view on the long-term impact of the feud on RJD. She noted that the RJD has not significantly lost ground in terms of vote share and remains the principal opposition party in Bihar.

She pointed out that the entire Mahagathbandhan had projected Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial face, which indicates that the allies “reposed faith in his leadership to carry forward the alliance in the state".

Also Read: RJD reacts to Bihar defeat: ‘No sorrow in loss, no arrogance in victory’

Rajalakshmi argued that “these kind of family squabbles happen” and that voters are unlikely to judge the party’s future solely on the basis of such disputes, especially when some of the dissenting family members have not demonstrated sustained political work or mass outreach.

Lalu's daughters lack political base

Rajalakshmi suggested that some of the current tensions may stem from unfulfilled aspirations within the family, particularly hopes that certain members would gain positions if the Mahagathbandhan had come to power.

She observed that, had the RJD and its allies won, “the family would have been very united,” indicating that the timing of the feud is closely tied to the electoral setback.

However, she underlined that “there is very little likelihood” of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughters joining another party, given their limited independent base and the lack of evidence of strong mass followings of their own.

Other regional political families

The discussion widened to examine whether similar strains are visible in other regional political families.

Examples cited included the reported rift within K Chandrashekar Rao’s family in Telangana, where his daughter K Kavitha has publicly differed; the succession questions in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) under MK Stalin; and tussles in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Trinamool Congress, where Mayawati’s nephew and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew have been projected at various points.

Also Read: Why a 15-lakh vote edge over BJP couldn’t help Tejashwi’s RJD win Bihar elections

Prof Sanjay Kumar viewed such episodes as part of a broader pattern.

“Almost all the regional parties in India are one-man (woman) centric parties and the whole party revolves around that person,” he observed, describing them as battles over “political heritage” where each family member wants a share.

Public memory is short

Prof Kumar noted that similar succession-driven conflicts have occurred within other Bihar-based parties, including the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), and that these are not unique to the RJD.

He argued that, in the longer run, the leader who “wins the race” is ultimately recognised by the public, while others fall to the margins.

In the case of RJD, he pointed out that Tej Pratap Yadav’s defeat in the Assembly polls and Rohini Acharya’s earlier Lok Sabha loss reduce their immediate political leverage compared to Tejashwi Yadav.

He added that public memory is short and that the current controversy may fade with time, whereas the structural reasons for RJD’s electoral defeat are more significant than the family quarrel that followed.

RJD's core base intact

Responding to the perception that the RJD may be “imploding", Mishra acknowledged that internal rumblings have become more visible, with some senior leaders expressing anger over the electoral setback.

He reiterated, however, that the party’s core vote base has remained largely intact.

Also Read: What led to Tejashwi Yadav's downfall? Here are some possible hints

“The mass appeal and the mass votes of RJD have not been lost,” he said, noting that the vote share is close to what it was in the previous Assembly election, even though this did not translate into seats.

Mishra concluded that the RJD’s future hinges on how Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav manage the family dispute and whether Tejashwi can continue as an undisputed leader. In his view, “there is no other leader in the family” who currently has the capacity to lead the RJD at the same scale.

Leadership transitions

Rajalakshmi stressed that RJD’s relevance in Bihar politics remains strong, and that it will continue as the main opposition so long as its organisational base and vote share hold.

Prof Kumar added that, just as Nitish Kumar’s health and age raise questions about succession in the ruling camp, RJD’s transition from Lalu Prasad Yadav to Tejashwi Yadav reflects a broader challenge for regional parties built around a single charismatic founder.

The panel collectively underlined that while family feuds can damage credibility and create short-term instability, the long-term trajectory of parties like the RJD will depend on electoral performance, leadership consolidation, and the ability to retain core social coalitions.

(The content above has been transcribed from video using a fine-tuned AI model. To ensure accuracy, quality, and editorial integrity, we employ a Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) process. While AI assists in creating the initial draft, our experienced editorial team carefully reviews, edits, and refines the content before publication. At The Federal, we combine the efficiency of AI with the expertise of human editors to deliver reliable and insightful journalism.)