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Senior RJD leaders believe Lalu Yadav’s sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap are headed for a split, despite recent attempts to put up a united front.

Patna: The first family of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is witnessing an intense feud ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and if senior members of the party are to be believed, a split is imminent.

The family feud seems to be brewing primarily between Lalu Prasad Yadav’s younger son and chosen heir Tejashwi, and his older brother, Tej Pratap, who have repeatedly contradicted each other and weren’t seen together in the last six months, before appearing together in photographs posted on Twitter last Saturday.

The feud is something that RJD leaders don’t publicly admit to, but it is a subject of intense discussion behind closed doors.

A former RJD MP told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity: “Nobody has a doubt that it will be Tejashwi who will be accepted as the leader by an overwhelming number of RJD leaders and supporters. But it (a split) will be an embarrassment for the party and its first family whenever it happens.”

Latest flashpoint

The latest point of conflict between the two brothers is who will contest from the Pataliputra parliamentary seat.

Bhai Virendra, the sitting MLA from Maner, which is part of the Pataliputra constituency, staked his claim to the seat Thursday, but drew a sharp rebuke from Tej Pratap. “The seat belongs to Misa Didi (Lalu and Rabri Devi’s oldest daughter, Misa Bharti). She has been campaigning there for a long time. Bhai Virendra does not have the substance to stand for parliamentary seats,” Tej Pratap said at a roadshow in favour of Bharti.

Tejashwi was quick to contradict his brother Friday. “Anybody can say anything on camera. After that, there is no relevance of the party’s parliamentary board or the national president,” he remarked, adding, “I have maintained that everything will be decided by Laluji.”

The seat, carved out after delimitation, is one of two parliamentary constituencies in Patna, the other being Patna Sahib. Lalu himself had contested the seat in 2009 and lost to former aide Ranjan Prasad Yadav, while in 2014, Misa Bharti fought against another former RJD man, Ram Kripal Yadav, and lost.

The latest confrontation has brought extra anxiety to the RJD camp, along with murmurs about Misa Bharti being the orchestrator behind it.

“There is a perception that the feud between the two brothers has been fanned by Misa Bharti, who, as the eldest daughter, sees herself as the rightful successor to Lalu’s legacy,” said a senior RJD leader who wished to remain anonymous.

“Tej Pratap is a front. Behind him are Misa and Lalu’s two brothers-in-law who have fallen from grace – Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav. They have openly supported Tej Pratap and want to re-enter politics through him.”

Also read: Lalu wants to build a grand political family for 2019 but all’s not well in his own family

RJD’s tryst with dynasty

Ever since he emerged as a colossal political figure in Bihar in 1990, family has been the centre-point of Lalu’s politics. First, he promoted brothers-in-law Sadhu and Subhash, despite the fact that both were in the news for all the wrong reasons. They went on to become MPs.

When Lalu was about to go to jail in the fodder scam case, he installed previously apolitical wife Rabri Devi as chief minister.

In 2015, when the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance won in Bihar, he ensured Tejashwi, a first-time MLA, became deputy CM, and that both his sons were given key portfolios – road construction, housing, health and environment. He even compensated for Misa Bharti’s Lok Sabha poll defeat by making her a Rajya Sabha member.

The sons’ trajectories

For a long time, Lalu was reluctant to name a successor. But in late 2017, he finally named Tejashwi, leaving his other politically-ambitious family members fuming.

Since then, Tejashwi’s political stature has grown, both as leader of the opposition in the assembly and in terms of his acceptability among RJD leaders and Lalu supporters. He campaigned and ensured victories for the RJD in the Lok Sabha and assembly by-polls, and has turned into a big crowd-puller at rallies and public meetings.

Tej Pratap, meanwhile, has fumbled due to his eccentric nature. He got married to Aishwarya Rai, granddaughter of former CM Daroga Prasad Rai, last year, and filed for divorce within six months. When Lalu asked him to take back the application for divorce, he did a disappearing act and went on a pilgrimage to Mathura, Vrindavan and Varanasi.

When he returned to Patna last month, he made it clear that he would not stay at 10 Circular Road, the bungalow where Lalu, Rabri and the sons reside. He ended up getting an official bungalow thanks to ‘Nitish Chacha’, leaving many RJD leaders wondering if he was being propped up by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Last Tuesday, after meeting Lalu, Tej Pratap said his father had asked him to take the party ahead. He keeps talking about the fact that he is the elder son, and has started holding ‘Janata Darbars’ at the state RJD office. All the party office-bearers, including state chief Ram Chandra Purbey, have stopped coming to the office as Tej Pratap continues to give statements that embarrass the party and Tejashwi.

“I do not want to be caught in the cross-fire of the family members,” said an office-bearer, echoing the mood of many party members about this feud.

Also read: Men are also victims of patriarchy. Just ask Tej Pratap Yadav

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