india

Updated: Jul 13, 2019 23:44 IST

Despite the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) suffering an electoral debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, the imprint of family rule in the party appears to get more pronounced with indications that the second daughter of jailed RJD president Lalu Prasad, Rohini Archarya is now keen on entering politics and is aspiring for a Rajya Sabha berth.

Insiders in the party said Archarya, who is settled with her family in Singapore and keeps coming to Patna regularly, has expressed her interest to enter the upper house to party president Lalu Prasad. Five seats will fall vacant in April next year from Bihar for the upper house of Parliament and RJD with a strength of 80 MLAs can easily bag one seat.

In her late thirties, Archarya had camped in Patna during the last Lok Sabha polls and helped younger brother Tejaswi Prasad Yadav in running the party’s campaign on social media. She had also visited the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi to visit her father, undergoing treatment during ongoing incarceration in fodder scam cases.

Archarya, a doctor by profession, is married to Samresh Singh, who works in the corporate sector. Her father-in-law Rao Ranvijay Singh, a former commissioner rank Income Tax officer, expired a few years back.

That Lalu Prasad’s second daughter is eyeing a political role in the near future is also evident as Archarya these days has been regularly updating her own Twitter account posting mostly political messages and state issues like recent AES deaths of children. One of her tweets posted on July 5, reads “Laluji ki Buniyaad Ko hum Sincheyengey, Nyay, Samanta ka rath hum khichengey. (We will nurture Lalu’s foundation and steer the fight for justice and equality).”

“Rohini is active on social media for the last one year but has started showing her political inclination in the last few months during the Lok Sabha polls. Yes, it has led to speculation about her joining active politics. But we do not know in what role she will join,” said a senior state RJD leader.

Incidentally, Archarya’s elder sister and Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti did not comment on the speculations about her younger sibling keen on entering the upper house of Parliament. “I do not know about it,” she said, when reached for comments. The party’s national spokesperson and MP Manoj Jha also could not be contacted.

Insiders in the party said RJD’s senior rung leaders are not impressed with the buzz in political circles about Archarya vying for a RS berth as they feel it would only dim their chances of getting into the upper house of parliament. Sources said many of the top leaders of the party and allies like former MP Sharad Yadav, former MP Shivanand Tiwary and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh want a berth in the upper house.

Observers feel the recent outbursts by Shivanand Tiwary and Raghuvnash against Lalu’s two sons, Tejaswi and Tej Pratap for not displaying good leadership qualities and indulging in sibling rivalry was aimed to express their ire over the family rule in the party and Lalu’s bid to ignore mistakes of his own wards.

However, a section of party leaders feel the jailed RJD chief would be the one to take a call on giving a ticket for the Rajya Sabha against vacancies and might opt for his second daughter. The Yadav chief is said to be open to the idea of his second daughter taking a political role in the party.

Sources said Archarya’s name was in circulation for the deputy chief minister’s post after Tejaswi was facing pressure to resign after his name had figured in the IRCTC scam. It did not happen as the RJD lost power after realignment of the JD(U) and BJP to form the government.

Already, three out of Lalu’s nine children are in politics with Misa being a Rajya Sabha MP while two of his sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi are MLAs. “It looks probable that Archarya like her other siblings will hold high political ambition although the party has faced criticism for its dynastic politics,” said a senior RJD leader.