RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday rode a motorbike alongside Rahul Gandhi for a stretch of their Voter Adhikar Yatra.

It did not stop his politically estranged brother Tej Pratap Yadav from jeering at his “AC car” rides.

Like every day so far in the eight-day-old Yatra, launched to protest the Election Commission’s alleged “vote theft”, Rahul and Tejashwi hit out at the poll panel and the government.

But the leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly — and chief ministerial hopeful — had to endure his elder brother’s constant sniping and claims of being the “real second Lalu”.

Tej Pratap, expelled from “the party and the family” by his father and RJD supreme leader Lalu Prasad in May for “irresponsible behaviour” and the violation of “family values”, has been leading a parallel Yatra, projecting himself as Lalu’s rightful political heir.

During a part of the day’s Yatra in Purnia, Rahul and Tejashwi rode two motorcycles side by side.

“The SIR (special intensive revision) of electoral rolls was an institutionalised attempt by the Election Commission to steal votes to help the BJP,” Rahul had earlier said at a news conference.

He reaffirmed the Opposition’s resolve to “not allow the EC to steal votes in Bihar”.

Sitting beside Rahul, Tejashwi accused the poll panel of functioning like a “cell of the BJP, a cadre of the BJP”.

He launched into a scathing attack on Narendra Modi, apparently to showcase his defiance in the face of an FIR lodged against him in Maharashtra for allegedly slandering the Prime Minister.

“The PM said in Gaya that the SIR was meant to drive out infiltrators from Bihar. But neither the categories in the EC’s list nor the affidavit by the poll body in the Supreme Court talks about infiltrators.”

Flanked by leaders from all the Mahagathbandhan parties, Rahul said the alliance would soon release a common manifesto for the upcoming Bihar polls.

He sidestepped a question about projecting Tejashwi as the alliance’s chief ministerial face, saying: “All the constituents of the alliance are working unitedly, both ideologically and politically, and the results will be fruitful.”

Tej Pratap, leading his own Jan Samvad campaign, has been projecting himself as a “people’s politician”.

“It’s election time and everyone is busy rolling out their own bread,” he told reporters in Begusarai.

“Tejashwi and Rahul are undertaking their Yatra but we want to walk through the village pathways. We want to become leaders who are connected to the ground.”

Tej Pratap has been visiting villages in his vehicle, stepping out to interact with people, as Rahul and Tejashwi are doing too.

“The people of Bihar already know who the real second Lalu is. We are grassroots leaders,” Tej Pratap said. “These leaders (Tejashwi and Rahul) are travelling in air-conditioned cars. They are not even shaking hands with the public....”