Patna: Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav lashed out at his party's Bihar unit chief on Sunday, a day after he first went public with his anger over how the RJD was being run.
On Saturday, Tej Pratap had hit out at "some people" who were out to pit brother against brother (read him against younger brother Tejashwi Prasad Yadav). On Sunday, the former state health minister directly named Ram Chandra Purbey and alleged that the RJD Bihar president does not listen to him.
"He has become an MLC now, that's why he is doing so. He has become greedy as well and he is not paying attention to the problems of party workers. He does not even meet people who wait for him outside the party office in scorching heat," Tej Pratap said.
Purbey (70) is serving his third tenure as RJD Bihar president. He was MLC for 14 years from 1986 to 2000 and MLA twice from the Sonbarsa seat. He contested the last two Assembly polls from Parihar but lost. In 2015, he lost to the BJP's Gayatri Devi. A loyalist of the RJD chief, he served as minister in five departments under Lalu. Largely free of controversy, Purbey addresses Tejashwi as "future chief minister" at every meeting.
Asked if he was uncomfortable with his younger brother being on the ascendant, Tej Pratap reacted sharply: "Why should I have any problem with him? I will pray for him to become PM. As an elder brother, I will always pray for him and if he requires my blood I will give him that too. I will donate every organ of my body to Tejashwi. He is my jigar ka tukda."
Tej Pratap also said that if anyone comes to meet him at 10 Circular Road, the security guards don't even inform him.
Asked about Tej Pratap's allegations, Purbey refused to comment. "Purbey ji is just being made a scapegoat," a senior RJD leader said under cover of anonymity. "Everyone in Bihar knows who is taking decisions in the RJD and who is being promoted and who is being demoted."
Tejashwi downplayed Tej Pratap's defiance.
"There is no revolt in the party and family, he is just talking about strengthening the party for the upcoming election. There are no differences between us," said the leader of Opposition.
