Patna: Ranjan Prasad Yadav, a friend-turned-political rival of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, has called a meeting of the Yadav castes at SK Memorial Hall on Friday under the banner of Yadav Jagaran Manch.

"It is an entirely non-political exercise. There will be representatives from all 534 blocks in Bihar. We will debate the social and economic status of the case and then pass resolutions on our future action plan," the former MP told The Telegraph.

He said the Manch came into existence in 2004 and this will be the third state representative meet. However, Ranjan Prasad Yadav's move has created political ripples.

The huge banner and posters have photos of political icons of the party belonging to the caste such as former chief minister Daroga Prasad Rai, former Speaker Baliram Bhagal, BP Mandal of the Mandal Commission fame.

"In fact there is over a dozen photos of former leaders from the caste. But it doesn't have the photograph of the man who is considered the undisputed leader of the caste - Lalu Prasad," said an RJD MLA not wanting to be quoted because he said his party wants to ignore the event.

The theme of the Ranjan Yadav show has been called Our Heritage.

"Not a single prominent leaders displayed in our posters had any corruption case filed against them. Lalu is in jail," said a close follower of Ranjan, stressing that the Manch wanted to project a clean image of the caste.

Ranjan was once known as the friend, philosopher and guide of Lalu Prasad who played a crucial role in moulding the political career of Lalu. He was once the number 2 in the Lalu Raj set-up. However, they fell out in 2002 and Lalu expelled Ranjan.

Since then Ranjan has been with the anti-Lalu forces. He even managed to defeat Lalu from the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat in the 2009 elections. In 2015, he joined the BJP after Nitish Kumar joined hands with Lalu. He has been in political hibernation for the past two years and now claims he is not in any party.

However, Ranjan's efforts in holding a Yadav meeting indicate the importance of the caste which constitute 14 per cent of the total population of Bihar. Since 1990 the caste has remained largely with Lalu, not withstanding his conviction in the fodder scam.

"It is unbelievable that they will desert him now. Ranjan has a tough time ahead if he plans to woo them. But he may succeed in making the Yadavs at least listen to him against Lalu", said a BJP leader.