Prashant Kishor challenge to infighting: Why RJD hit reset in Bihar

The Bankipur bypoll was necessitated after its five-term MLA Nitin Nabin vacated the seat following his elevation to the BJP national president’s post and his subsequent election to the Rajya Sabha. In the November 2025 Assembly elections, Rekha was the runner-up in the Bankipur seat clinched by Nabin.

Just a fortnight ago, the RJD’s state spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari, one of its most visible faces, quit the party to join the BJP.

These developments have come amid brewing discontent within the RJD at various levels, according to party sources. There is said to be resentment among several senior RJD leaders against the party’s chief state spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav, who is known to be close to Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the national party working president and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly.

In recent months, two prominent RJD leaders have voiced dissent against the party’s “arbitrary” functioning. While RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter, Rohini Acharya, had raised the banner of revolt against her brother Tejashwi ahead of the Assembly polls over “excessive influence” of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Yadav, Maner MLA Bhai Virendra, known for being outspoken,

has continued to flag the issue of “dominance of sycophants and select leaders within the party”.

RJD shake-up

It was against this backdrop that Bihar RJD president Mangani Lal Mandal has dissolved all the state unit committees at the district, block, and panchayat levels.

The RJD leadership had brought in Mandal, a former MP and prominent EBC leader, to head the state party unit early last year after veteran leader Jagdanand Singh resigned from this post.

A senior RJD leader told The Indian Express: “Though it is the discretion of a political party to reshuffle or dissolve its units from time to time, the latest decision calls for serious introspection. First, our Assembly tally was reduced from 75 seats in 2020 to 25 in 2025 – taking us back to our 2010 status when we had won just 22 seats. It clearly shows that our appeal among voters has been waning.”

Another RJD leader explained that while the party had never won the Bankipur seat, finishing at third place with a forfeited deposit against a debutant victor – the poll strategist-turned-politician Kishor – warranted urgent corrective measures.

“It would be great if the party follows a democratic process to reconstitute the new committees with committed grassroots workers. The concerns raised by Bhai Virendra about a coterie of sycophants calling the shots need to be addressed. Our leader Tejashwi needs to be more accessible and must avoid disappearing acts when the party needs him most,” the leader said, adding that Kishor cannot be taken lightly as he has the potential to emerge as a principal Opposition against the incumbent BJP-led NDA in the post-Nitish Kumar era.

A major factor that fuelled Kishor’s surge was attributed to wide cracks in the support bases of both the BJP and the RJD. While broad chunks of upper castes shifted their loyalties from the BJP to Kishor, large sections of the OBCs and even the RJD’s Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) support base also backed the JSP chief.

Following its defeat in the 2025 Bihar elections, the RJD seemed to have entered a phase of structural crisis. The sharp contraction of its traditional M-Y base, coupled with the rise of Kishor as a viable alternative, has rattled the party. Amid raging feuds among its senior leaders and even spokespersons, the RJD has struggled to project unity in its ranks or offer any effective counter-narrative.