WAR IN THE LALU PARIVAR?

BIHAR

- Amitabh Srivastava

'Do nyay agar to aadha do, par ismein bhi yadi badha ho, toh de do kewal paanch graam, rakho apni dharti tamaam (If you want to do justice, then give half, but if you find that diffi­cult, just give five villages, keep all your earth).’ As Tej Pratap Yadav posted lines from Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s epic Rashmirathi on Facebook on August 22, their import was not lost on any­ one. The elder son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav wants a share in the party and power.

This assumes significance as Lalu’s tenure as the national president of the party comes to an end in November. Though the RJD supremo may retain the post, given his falling health, he could well nominate younger son Teja­ shwi Yadav as the working president. This will formalise the prominent place many believe Tejashwi already enjoys— both as the leader of the RJD legisla­tive party and as the party boss.

Tejashwi has also emerged as Lalu’s undisputed heir in the state’s politics. He was deputy chief minister in the Janata Dal (United) government in 2015 before Nitish Kumar walked out of the alliance in July 2017. In the 2020 Bihar assembly poll, he was the chief ministerial candidate of the Opposition grand alliance, with the RJD winning 75 seats and a 23.1 per cent vote share, more than the BJP’s 74 and the JD(U)’s 43 seats in the 243­member assembly. Tejashwi is now leader of the Opposi­tion in the assembly, and was part of the 10­party delegation led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar that met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23 to convince him about a caste census.