Two decades apart, another family drama jolts Lalu clan ahead of crucial Bihar polls

Less than four months ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, the first family of the state’s principal Opposition party, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has been yet again struck by turmoil. On Sunday (May 25), Lalu expelled his eldest son and former minister Tej Pratap Yadav from the RJD for six years and also severed the family’s ties with him.

In a post on X, the RJD chief said the “activities, public conduct and irresponsible behaviour” of Tej Pratap, MLA from the Hasanpur Assembly constituency of Samastipur district, was “not in line with our family values and traditions”.

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“I remove him from the party and family. From now on, he will not have any role of any kind in the party and the family. He is expelled from the party for 6 years... He is capable of seeing the good and bad of his personal life. All those who keep relations with him should make their own decisions. I have always been an advocate of decorum in public life,” Lalu added.

Forced to act tough

What seems to have compelled the RJD patriarch to take the stern step against his eldest son was a post made by Tej Pratap’s X handle a day ago, which was later deleted after the Hasanpur MLA claimed that his social media accounts had been hacked. The deleted post had a photograph of Tej Pratap with a lady and a caption that claimed the two had been in a relationship for the past 12 years.

Once the post was deleted, Tej Pratap put out another post stating that his social media platforms had been hacked and his pictures were “wrongly edited to harass and defame me and my family members”. The Hasanpur MLA, however, did not clarify further about the lady in the photograph or his relationship with her.

Sources close to the Lalu clan told The Federal that the RJD patriarch was livid at Tej Pratap after the controversial X post went viral. “This isn’t the first time that Tej Pratap has embarrassed the family. It has been a struggle for Laluji to keep Tej Pratap in line; on many past occasions, he was reprimanded for the things he did in public. The post with that woman was the final blow. Laluji made it clear that he will not let Tej Pratap destroy everything that he has built painstakingly through the years, especially at a time when an election that will decide the political future of Tejashwi (Lalu’s younger son and political heir) is months away,” a senior RJD leader considered close to the party patriarch told The Federal.

Good riddance

Many in the RJD see Tej Pratap’s ouster as a case of “good riddance” and something that “should have been done long ago”. A veteran party leader who has been Lalu’s co-traveller in the RJD since it was founded in 1997 said, “Ever since Tej Pratap joined politics he has brought nothing but trouble for his family and the party.”

The party veteran added, “Tej Pratap’s actions in public are embarrassing even for those who are not RJD supporters but even politically, he never thought of the party’s interest because he couldn’t digest that his father had chosen Tejashwi as his heir. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls also, he created trouble for the party by supporting independent candidates on three seats. Despite all this, during the 2020 Bihar polls when some people thought Tej Pratap may not be able to win from Mahua (the Assembly seat in Vaishali district he won in 2015), he was shifted to a safer seat (Hasanpur) and then just to keep him happy, Lalu got him a ministerial berth (Tej Pratap was health minister in the short lived JDU-RJD-Congress grand alliance government) but his embarrassing pubic and political antics continued.”

Blemished conduct

Over the years, even unwavering RJD supporters have often cringed at Tej Pratap’s personal conduct, especially his penchant for dressing up as Lord Krishna or Lord Shiva and turning up in public places. Sources close to the family say though his mother and former CM Rabri Devi often came to Tej Pratap’s defence, Lalu had on multiple occasions warned his eldest son against such “nautanki” (dance) in public.

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Another close aide of the family told The Federal that the Lalu clan had hoped that Tej Pratap’s marriage to Aishwarya Rai, granddaughter of former Bihar CM Daroga Prasad Rai, in May 2018 would help the errant son, already an MLA by then, “settle down”. However, the marriage fell apart within months and by August the following year, Aishwarya claimed she had been “roughed up and thrown out” of the Yadav household “by Rabri Devi and Tej Pratap”.

The two have since been caught in a bitter legal battle for getting divorced with Aishwarya even telling the court and the media on more than one occasion that Tej Pratap is a “drug addict” and “has a habit of cross-dressing as Radha (Lord Krishna’s paramour) when at home”. Tej Pratap, on his part, has rejected his wife’s allegations and accused her of “defaming me and my family only to get a hefty alimony”.

Playing second fiddle

It isn’t just Tej Pratap’s domestic life that has landed the Lalu clan in a spot repeatedly. Politically, the Hasanpur MLA is known to harbour a grudge over playing second fiddle to his younger sibling, Tejashwi, even though Lalu has left no doubt in establishing the latter as heir apparent.

“Since 2020, at least in public, Tej Pratap has tried to present an amicable relationship with Tejashwi but everyone in the party knows that he doesn’t like the fact that despite being the eldest, he is not Laluji’s 'uttaradhikari' (heir). In 2019, when he floated the Lalu-Rabri Morcha, the aim was not to strengthen the RJD but to sabotage Tejashwi. However, given his public image, that experiment flopped and after the 2020 Bihar elections he was forced to accept Tejashwi as a leader,” an RJD MLC said, adding that Tej Pratap’s ouster will “not harm the RJD electorally in any way in the upcoming polls because everyone knows what a nuisance he is”.

Political implications

Yet, there are others in the party who feel that while Lalu’s stern action against Tej Pratap will “protect the RJD to some extent, it may not completely isolate us from criticism” on account of the Hasanpur MLA. The ruling JD(U)-BJP combine will try to present Lalu’s decision as a mere face-saving exercise, anticipate RJD leaders and they aren’t entirely off-the-mark.

Shortly after Lalu expelled Tej Pratap, JD(U) MLC and former minister Neeraj Kumar told reporters in Patna, “This is not a family matter of Lalu Yadav but a political decision aimed at saving the party’s image before the election... today, Lalu Yadav is saying he has always stood for cultured conduct and decorum in public life but where was all this when his family threw out Daroga Prasad Rai’s granddaughter and Tej Pratap’s wife from their home. Tej Pratap says he has been in a relationship with that woman (whose photograph was posted in Tej Pratap’s now deleted X post) for 12 years, which means the two were in a relationship even when Tej Pratap was married. Is this the culture Lalu Yadav is talking about? Is this the respect he and his family have for Bihar’s daughters?”

Another family saga

Interestingly, the Tej Pratap saga is unfolding at a time when Lalu is also facing attacks from a different but equally controversial section of his family – his estranged brother-in-law and former RJD MP Subhash Prasad Yadav.

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A few months ago, Subhash, who had been expelled from the RJD over a decade ago, alleged that “kidnapping plans and extortion deals” were regularly made in Bihar’s CM House when Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi ruled the state as chief ministers between 1990 and 2005.

The allegations by Subhash were, curiously, countered by another estranged brother-in-law of Lalu, former MP and expelled RJD leader Sadhu Yadav who claimed “it was Subhash who introduced and promoted rogue elements in the RJD when Lalu and my sister were chief ministers”.

Sadhu and Subhash are Rabri Devi’s brothers and Lalu is often accused by his political adversaries of having allowed the duo to carry out criminal activities in the state during the 15 years of RJD rule, which even today is painted by the BJP and JD (U) as “jungle raaj”.

RJD in a spot

Lalu had severed ties with Subhash and Sadhu in the years after the RJD lost power in Bihar to Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) in 2005 and has often claimed that his brothers-in-law misused his name and influence for their personal gains and to save themselves from the legal consequences of their allegedly criminal acts.

The Tej Pratap episode may not be as politically damning for the Lalu clan as the feud with Subhash and Sadhu once was. Yet, it does put the RJD in a difficult spot just when Tejashwi is hoping to steer the party and its alliance with the Congress, Left parties and other smaller outfits to victory against the Nitish-led NDA government. The RJD chief and his allies are also keeping a nervous watch on how Tej Pratap reacts to Lalu’s decision.

Rohini from Hasanpur?

Sources say in a bid to offset the potential electoral damage from the controversy and blunting criticism about the Lalu clan having mistreated Tej Pratap's wife, the RJD could field Lalu's daughter Rohini Acharya from the Hasanpur seat.

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The 45-year-old Rohini had first made headlines when she donated her kidney to her ailing father in 2022. Rohini had made her electoral debut from the Saran Lok Sabha seat in last year's Lok Sabha polls but lost narrowly to the BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy by a margin of around 13000 votes. Her possible candidature, however, is also a tough gamble for Lalu as his political rivals have often slammed him for promoting dynastic politics.