RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad on Sunday appointed younger son Tejashwi Yadav as the party’s national working president, triggering a sharp “puppet prince” jibe from estranged daughter Rohini Acharya.
Tejashwi’s elevation was announced at the RJD’s national executive meeting in Patna, which was attended by his parents — party founder Lalu Prasad and former chief minister Rabri Devi.
The family-led party projected the decision as the “dawn of a new era”, notwithstanding the RJD’s crushing defeat in the Assembly elections in December under Tejashwi’s leadership. The RJD could win only 25 of the 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly. Party leaders said the ailing Lalu, 77, was keen to hand over the control, though he continues to retain the post of RJD president.
The development, however, once again laid bare the fault lines within the family, which includes seven daughters and two sons. Rohini Acharya, Lalu Prasad’s Singapore-based daughter who had donated a kidney to him, was quick to voice her dissent in a sarcastic X post.
“Congratulations to the sycophants and the ‘infiltrator gang’ on the coronation of the ‘prince turned puppet in their hands’,” Rohini posted on X, indicating that tensions among the siblings continue to simmer.
The eldest sibling, Lok Sabha member Misa Bharati, was present at the event and welcomed Tejashwi’s appointment. “We extend our best wishes to Tejashwi. All leaders and workers will cooperate with him to take the party forward,” she told reporters, declining to comment on Rohini’s remarks.
There was, however, no comment till late Sunday evening from Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, who was expelled from both the party and the family in the run-up to last year’s Assembly elections and subsequently floated his own outfit, the Janshakti Janata Dal.
Earlier this month, Lalu had attended a Sankranti feast at Tej Pratap’s residence on the latter’s invitation, signalling tentative efforts at a family rapprochement. Little, however, has come of it so far. Tejashwi stayed away from the gathering despite being personally invited by his elder brother.
Rohini, who unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha election from Saran, had fallen out with Tejashwi following the RJD’s drubbing in the Assembly polls. She had publicly disowned the family and accused Tejashwi and his aides — Sanjay Yadav and Rameez — of forcing her out of her parents’ home for questioning the reasons behind the party’s electoral defeat.