RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday attended a Makar Sankranti feast at the Patna residence of his estranged son Tej Pratap Yadav, signalling a possible thaw in relations months after the latter was expelled from both the “party and the family”.
Tej Pratap, who had floated the Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) and contested the Assembly elections against official RJD candidates, appeared to take the first step towards reconciliation. On Tuesday evening, he met parents Lalu and Rabri Devi and younger brother Tejashwi Yadav to invite them to the traditional curd-and-flattened rice feast.
Only Lalu, however, was seen attending the morning feast. The septuagenarian, who largely stays indoors because of health issues following a kidney transplant, drove to his elder son’s home.
Asked about younger brother Tejashwi’s absence from the feast, Tej Pratap sought to play it down. “I invited him, but he wakes up a little late,” the JJD leader said, suggesting that Tejashwi could join later in the day.
Tej Pratap hands over the invitation card for the feast to brother Tejashwi on Tuesday PTI
Tej Pratap also appeared to use the feast to showcase his political clout in the state, with some success. Bihar governor Arif Mohammad Khan, deputy chief minister and BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha, along with several other ministers and leaders cutting across party lines, attended the event.
“Laluji came, Arifji came and blessed us…. If Teju’s feast won’t be a super duper hit, then whose will be? Parents are God, and I will keep receiving their blessings,” Tej Pratap told reporters. Lalu did not speak to the media.
In the run-up to last year’s Assembly elections, Lalu expelled Tej Pratap from the RJD following a controversy triggered by a Facebook post by his elder son. In the post, Tej Pratap claimed he had been in a relationship with a woman for 12 years, sparking a public row as he was married and his divorce petition was pending before a family court. He later said his Facebook account had been hacked and deleted the post.
Lalu nevertheless went ahead and, in a post on X, announced Tej Pratap’s expulsion from both the “party and the family”, stating that his elder son’s “public conduct” had violated the political family’s “values and traditions”. “From now on, he (Tej Pratap) will not have any role of any kind in the party and family. He is expelled from the party for six years,” the RJD chief had said.
Undeterred, Tej Pratap floated the JJD and fielded candidates in several seats, including against his brother Tejashwi in the family borough of Raghopur. While all JJD candidates, including Tej Pratap, forfeited their deposits, the RJD too suffered a humiliating defeat in the elections.
The RJD’s poor show in the Assembly polls had triggered a bitter public feud within the Yadav family. Rohini Acharya, the Singapore-based daughter who had donated a kidney to Lalu, alleged that she was attacked with slippers for questioning the party’s poll debacle. She also made an indirect allegation against her younger brother Tejashwi.
Rohini, who unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha elections from Saran, subsequently announced that she was “quitting politics and severing ties with the family”. Tej Pratap had publicly come out in her defence, threatening to teach a lesson to those responsible for humiliating his sister.