The ambitions of Rashtriya Janata Dal’s chief Lalu Prasad Yadav — and his family members

On July 25, 1997, a wet-eyed homemaker from a humble village background went to the Raj Bhawan wearing slippers. Within hours, she was sworn in as Bihar’s chief minister, even as her husband, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party chief, faced imminent arrest in the infamous fodder scam case. As Rabri Devi took over the reins of the government, Lalu Prasad Yadav was accused of unabashedly promoting family rule.

The RJD has come a long way since then. It lost power in Bihar in 2005 and formed the government with the support of the Janata Dal (United) in 2015 and again, in 2022. Now, as the JD(U) readies to break ties with the RJD once again, and return to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance, its chief Nitish Kumar’s politics of opportunism is matched only by 76-year-old Lalu’s bid to remain in power.

Lalu has faced criticism for promoting his family — three of his nine children are in the government — but it has not deterred him. His oldest daughter Misa Bharti is a sitting Rajya Sabha MP — she lost the Pataliputra parliamentary polls twice; younger son, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is deputy CM; and elder son Tej Pratap Yadav is a minister.

Lalu’s second daughter, Rohini Acharya, who donated her kidney to her father in December 2022, is likely to contest the parliamentary elections this year, although no official announcement about this has been made. If she contests, Archarya, an MBBS degree holder, may do so from Karakat and Saran, both strongholds of the RJD.

At the moment, however, all eyes are on whom the RJD chief is expected to name as his heir apparent to head the party, party insiders said.

Tejashwi Prasad, widely considered to be the man to take up the mantle, is likely to be named party president. This proposition was made back in November 2022, before the party’s national executive took place in New Delhi. However, at the time, party veterans were not in favour of a change of guard, as many feared that it would adversely affect the balance between the young and old members of the party.

All three siblings are said to be claimants for the post.

Tej Pratap, the older of the two, has shown his displeasure over the organisational decisions Tejashwi has taken. A year ago, he had a bitter spat with state president and veteran Jagdanand Singh over the party’s top post. The Yadav scion was reportedly displeased because he did not have enough clout in the party to appoint supporters to key posts. Tej Pratap was also reportedly upset over Singh’s proximity with Tejashwi and his younger brother’s growing clout in the party. In the past year, Tejashwi has become a de facto number two and is said to be calling the shots in all key decisions. There are speculations that Tej Pratap is keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls this year, though the 35-year-old has not made any official statement so far in this connection. Misa Bharti is also said to be eyeing the Pataliputra parliamentary seat.

“There is bound to be sibling rivalry in every political family as stakes are high. Of course, Tejashwi has firmed up his position in the party and might be given more responsibilities in coming days,” a senior RJD leader, seeking anonymity, said.

Rohini Acharya, who is in her forties, and lives in Singapore with her family, visited her in-law’s place in Aurangabad district in December 2023 and participated in various social programmes. When asked about her keenness to join politics, she said, “Let’s see what lies in the future. I do not know.” Archarya has been active on X (formerly Twitter) and posted a few days ago obliquely critiquing Nitish over his comments against “dynastic politics”. This triggered a war of words between the RJD and JD(U) causing unrest in the Grand Alliance government.

Lalu’s other children — five daughters — are not in politics. Indeed, many RJD leaders said on condition of anonymity that it won’t surprise them if they too enter politics in the coming days.