Family matters

To counter desertion by Sadhu and Subhash,Lalu fields youngest son Tejaswi to campaign for party.

He is only 20,but in politics its perhaps never too early to launch a career provided one belongs to a family of politicians. Tejaswi Yadav,the youngest son of Rabri Devi and Lalu Prasad,understands this better than many others. Last Thursday,when he announced that he had left his Ranji cricket match midway to help his father remove Nitish chacha from the Chief Ministers chair,it was clear that another son had made an entry into Bihars political arena.

However,dowplaying his political debut,Lalu said,Being my son,he is very much a member of the RJD and does not need a formal launch. I will first get him married and he will contest polls only when he turns 25.

Speaking on his campaigns during the coming polls,Tejaswi said,I will ask people to remove Nitish chacha and vote for my father. I will seek votes not from the youth but from the elderly and women.

Bringing in Tejaswi to campaign for the party is being seen as a well-crafted move by the RJD chief to nullify the effect of his brothers-in-law Sadhu and Subhash spewing venom against him in public. Lalu claims to have brought the duo to the political centrestage from a nondescript village. Sadhu is with the Congress for over a year now and Subhash is desperately searching for a party after quitting the RJD. The two brothers were nicknamed power sub-stations during the heydays of Lalu-Rabri rule. After they deserted him,Lalu had said: If they are power sub-stations,I am the power house that can cut off their supply.

Political analyst Surendra Kishore,however,says that Sadhu and Subhash are engaged in a mock fight with Lalu. They are no longer MPs and look restless without power something they were used to for a long time.

JDU spokesperson Anil Pathak remembered how four houses in the vicinity of the official Chief Ministers residence,1,Anne Marg,were power centres with Lalus extended family occupying them. The NDA had nicknamed the RJD as Sasural an acronym for Sadhu,Subhash,Rabri and Lalu party.

The latest entry from the family,Tejaswi,was born in 1990 when Lalu took over as the CM,dethroning Jagannath Mishra. After the RJD came back to power without any fuss with Lalu again becoming the CM in 1995,his childhood friend and second-in-command Ranjan Prasad Yadav tried his best to minimise the interference of Sadhu and Subhash,much to the annoyance of Rabri Devi. Soon,Ranjan Prasad had to leave the party and he became a JDU MP by defeating Lalu in 2009. Recalling his RJD days,he said,Its a one-family party.

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With Rabri Devi succeeding Lalu in July 1997,Sadhu and Subhash gained greater prominence. In fact,Sadhu symbolised the RJDs muscle power. People recall how he walked into a Patna showroom to force out 21 cars to receive guests during the marriage of Lalus eldest daughter,Misa.

Now,of course,Lalu has only one trusted aide,Rajya Sabha MP Ramkripal Yadav. With his wife slowly getting out of politics,Lalu is in a hurry to choose a successor. His three daughters are not married to politicians. Eldest son Tej Pratap seems far too religious to join active politics. Hence,Lalus hopes rest on Tejaswi to add a dash of youthfulness to election campaigning.