Patna: Tej Pratap Yadav is a man on a new mission, and the RJD chief's elder son is undergoing an image makeover.

Gone is the media-shy man content playing the flute dressed up as Lord Krishna. He now wants to be the new Lalu Prasad.

He has started copying his father's style and doing all those things that his father used to do earlier.

His new avatar was visible during his visit to his Assembly constituency, Mahua in Vaishali district, last Monday in which he drove a cycle rickshaw, ate sattu while sitting on the floor, took bath from a hand pump, visited houses of Mahadalits, tried his hand at the fodder cutter machine, and called up a government officer while putting the mobile on speaker mode so that everyone gathered around him could hear.

"I cannot be exact Lalu Prasad, but I speak and do everything the way my father does," Tej Pratap admitted during his visit to Mahua. "One can get the feel of Lalu ji by seeing me."

His coming forward to air grievances over how the party is being run, and his public tongue lashing to even senior leaders has not gone unnoticed. He is also courting the media's attention with every move he makes - such as waving a printout with "No entry Nitish Chacha" written on it from the gates of 10 Circular Road.

Highly placed sources in the RJD said all these changes have come ever since he got married, and that his wife Aishwarya Rai and mother-in-law Poornima Rai are playing pivotal role in the transformation of Tej Pratap Yadav.

"Earlier, Tej Patap was not getting any political mileage when he was busy in playing the flute, making jalebis and blowing the conch," a source close to the RJD first family told The Telegraph on Wednesday under cover of anonymity. "He was considered a non-serious leader. However, it is his wife Aishwarya Rai and mother-in-law Poornima Rai who are playing a key part in his makeover. They have been counselling him, and urging him to become more serious in life and to be more involved in things that will help him carve out his own political space in the party as well as among his supporters," the source added.

His wife and mother-in-law, the source insisted, have instructed him to issue more political statements rather than getting involved in petty things that can damage his image as a no-nonsense politician. Tej Pratap himself has dropped enough hints that his wife is guiding him. On June 9 this year, when he first went public with his grievances, he had openly said that his wife was shocked when he told her about certain things in the party. Aishwarya, Tej Pratap said, had asked him to deal with the issue tactically and to not allow things to go out of his hand.

"The way his younger brother Tejashwi has made a mark as a mature politician at such a young age, Tej Pratap has understood that he also needs to make his own mark," a senior RJD leader and office-bearer told The Telegraph - under cover of anonymity for obvious reasons.