Patna, Feb. 14: Pappu Yadav today took a dig at Lalu Prasad's family for the first time, saying it was he (Pappu) who was carrying forward the RJD chief's 'legacy'.

Speaking at a public function at Kishanganj today, Pappu, the MP from Madhepura, said: 'In my dictionary, after Lalu Prasad, there is no leader in the party but only party workers. Being the son or daughter of Lalu is not enough to become a leader or God. It is me who is the successor of the ideology and legacy of Lalu and I will continue to be the only one.'

Pappu's reactions have come a day after Tejaswi Yadav, the younger son of Lalu, had hit out at Pappu for deviating from the party line on the issue of chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Tejaswi, 25, had written to Pappu 'requesting' him to stick to the party line and not become a puppet in the hands of the BJP. 'In the past few days, our MP Pappu Yadav has been commenting in the media against the party line. If the RJD had not given him the ticket, he would never be an MP. So, I will request him to mend and not become a puppet in the BJP's hands,' Tejaswi had written.

Lalu has been trying and promoting his children, particularly Tejaswi and daughter Misa Bharti as the party's successors in the recent times.

In last year's general election, Misa got the party ticket from Patliputra constituency leaving Lalu's close aide Ram Kripal Yadav angry and dejected. Ram Kripal had gone ahead to join the BJP and defeated Misa in the election.

Tejaswi, on the other hand, has been prominently seen in many party meetings and election rallies with Lalu and senior party leaders.

'Whatever I have said, it has only been to make the party strong. A leader is one who can connect with the people,' Pappu said today.

With Lalu and Nitish Kumar opposing Manjhi, Pappu always claimed that the RJD chief should stand by Manjhi strongly. Pappu has said if Lalu does not side with Manjhi, he (Lalu) will be losing on a big chunk of Dalit and Mahadalit votes in the state in the Assembly polls due later this year.

Pappu has always praised Manjhi for his work and had criticised the JDU leaders for speaking against Manjhi. Lalu, who has always avoided speaking against Pappu, had broken his silence in New Delhi on February 11. After meeting the President, Lalu said: 'Let him speak anything. First of all, he is not an MLA and secondly, I just don't listen or care as to what Pappu says.'

Party insiders said the words against Pappu were actually from Lalu and he had used Tejaswi as a medium.