‘Why was my life ruined?’ Tej Pratap’s wife attacks Lalu
Aishwarya Rai says Tej’s expulsion was done with eye on elections. Her family is among Bihar’s most influential Yadav families, with her father set to contest on JD(U) ticket.
Tej Pratap married Rai, the granddaughter of former Bihar CM Daroga Prasad Rai, in 2018. However, months later, the two filed for divorce. (Screengrab/ PTI/ File) 
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RJD President Lalu Prasad’s bid to contain the damage arising from a social media post by elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, by expelling him from the party and family, has suffered a setback. Speaking to the media a day after Tej’s expulsion, his estranged wife Aishwarya Rai accused Lalu of “ruining her life” by arranging her marriage with his son.
Mentioning Lalu’s post announcing the action against Tej, Aishwarya wondered how the family had “had a social awakening all of a sudden” and said the decision was taken with the approaching Assembly elections in mind and was only in name. “Why was my life ruined?… Now, all of a sudden, they are talking about social awakening and moral conscience,” Aishwarya said.
The divorce proceedings of Tej and Aishwarya, who got married in 2018 and separated within a year, are being heard at a Patna family court.
Lalu expelled Tej on Sunday, soon after pictures posted by him surfaced, identifying the woman with him as his girlfriend of 12 years; he later deleted the post. Lalu posted on X: “Ignoring moral values in personal life weakens our collective struggle for social justice. My eldest son’s activities, public conduct and irresponsible behaviour are not in accordance with family values and traditions. Therefore, due to current circumstances, I am removing him from the party and family… He is expelled from the party for six years.”
The wedding of Tej and Aishwarya was expected to be a grand alliance of two of Bihar’s most powerful Yadav families. Her grandfather Daroga Prasad Rai was the second Yadav to serve as the Bihar CM, after B P Mandal, holding the post from February 1970 to December that year. When Lalu took to politics in the mid-1970s post the Jayaprakash Narayan Movement, two of the leaders he looked up to were Daroga Rai and former Union minister Ramlakhan Singh Yadav.
As Lalu rose in politics, his association with the Rai family only grew. Aishwarya’s father Chandrika Rai served as a minister in the Mahagathbandhan government led by the RJD between 2015-17, and also contested unsuccessfully from Saran – seen as Lalu’s backyard – as an RJD nominee in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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After the marriage of his daughter and Tej fell apart, Chandrika Rai joined the JD(U) and in the 2020 Assembly elections, contested unsuccessfully from the Parsa seat in Saran. Rai continues to be in the JD(U) and may contest the forthcoming Assembly polls again from Parsa.
Aishwarya accused Lalu of knowing all about Tej’s affairs, and still pushing for the marriage because of political reasons. “I even got information of his divorce application through the media… Now the truth is out, he (Tej) had been having an affair for 12 years. When will I get justice? I will continue my fight.”
The eldest of three siblings, Aishwarya holds an MBA from Amity University. Her brother Apurva is a lawyer, while the youngest sibling, Ayushi, is an engineer.
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