Rise of new face in RJD first family: Rohini Acharya, kidney donor of father Lalu, gets set for Lok Sabha poll debut

Barring her and their eldest sister Misa Bharati, Rohini’s other sisters and two brothers — Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav — have kept the family’s Yadav surname.

Ever since Rohini donated one of her kidneys to her father in December 2022 at a Singapore hospital, the RJD president seldom misses to mention his daughter’s “great gesture” at various public platforms.

Lalu would pronounce her name “Rohini Achari”. When he introduced her during the RJD’s Jan Vishwas Maha Rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on 3 March, it had become clear that Rohini was going to take the plunge in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Now that the RJD has made it clear that Rohini will be the party’s candidate in the polls from the Saran constituency — the seat represented by Lalu Prasad earlier — she becomes the fourth among Lalu and Rabri’s nine children to enter politics after Misa, Tej Pratap and Tejashwi.

While Misa, the second-time Rajya Sabha MP, is all set to contest the Lok Sabha polls on the RJD’s ticket from Pataliputra again — she had lost from the seat in the 2014 and 2019 polls — Tejashwi, former Deputy CM, is Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. Former minister Tej Pratap is currently an MLA too.

RJD sources said Rohini was the party’s “unanimous choice” for the Saran seat with all members of the Lalu family favouring it.

Rohini, who also did her MBBS like Misa, did not take up the medical profession. After getting married to Samresh Singh, a software engineer from Icchanbigha near Patna, in 2002, she settled down in the US with her husband before shifting to Singapore, where they currently live with their two children.

Her wedding celebrations had triggered a controversy as some of Lalu’s kin were alleged to have forcibly taken out brand new cars from their Patna showrooms to the city airport to receive the bridegroom Samresh Singh, his father and ex-Income Tax commissioner Rao Ranvijay Singh, and their “baraat”.

There had been speculation in 2017 on Rohini being sent to the Rajya Sabha, but she stayed away from active politics. She has been, however, active on social media over the last five years, regularly hailing or defending her father or brother Tejashwi.

Her social media posts on Bihar CM and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar’s “wavering ideology” just before his latest switch to the BJP-led NDA camp in January were claimed to have acted as a “trigger” for Nitish’s exit from the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance).

As Bihar BJP president and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary on Friday attacked Lalu, alleging that he “sold Saran ticket to Rohini in lieu of her kidney donation”, Rohini rose to defend herself and the RJD. She highlighted her “selfless love” for her father, criticising people with “petty mentality” without mentioning Samrat’s name.

She said on X: “Giving my one kidney to my father is my duty and my love for him. Rohini is ready to sacrifice her life for her family and for land of her birth Bihar.”

Rohini’s stature in the Lalu family has gone several notches up after she donated her kidney to her father. When she visited Patna to attend Lalu’s 74th birth anniversary on 11 June 2023, barely six months after his kidney transplant. She told reporters: “Serving my parents and doing something for them is equal to doing yatra of four places of pilgrimage”. Her social media posts regularly make references to socialist icons and the social justice issue.

On the birth anniversary of Rammanohar Lohia on Saturday, she stated: “I pay my homage to timeless personality Dr Rammanohar Lohia on his anniversary for giving direction to politics based on equality and humanity.”

Responding to allegations that he was promoting his family in politics, Lalu had told the 3 March rally that “PM Narendra Modi has no family. One who has family alone can promote them”. This led to a massive counter-attack from the BJP in the form of “Modi Ka Privar” campaign.

Defending Rohini, a senior RJD leader said, “If one keeps family equations aside, Rohini Acharya is the best party candidate from Saran under the prevailing political situation”.

So far, Lalu has given the RJD tickets to nine candidates in Bihar, including former don Ashok Mahato’s wife Kumari Anita from the Munger seat. Mahato, who cannot contest polls till 2029 following his conviction in the 2001 Nawada jailbreak case, got married only last week.

Lalu’s unilateral move has upset the RJD’s INDIA allies like the Congress as they have yet to reach a seat-sharing pact for the state’s 40 constituencies.