Days after his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav posted a picture on social media with a woman, referring to her as his girlfriend, RJD chief Lalu Prasad expelled him from the party for six years, as well as from the family.
Announcing his decision on X, the RJD chief said that “ignoring moral values in personal life weakens our collective struggle for social justice”.
“The activities, public conduct and irresponsible behaviour of the eldest son are not in accordance with our family values and traditions. Therefore, due to the above circumstances, I remove him from the party and family. From now on, he will not have any role of any kind in the party and family. He is expelled from the party for 6 years. He is capable of seeing the good and bad and merits and demerits of his personal life. All those who will have relations with him should make their own decisions. I have always been an advocate of public shame in public life. The obedient members of the family have adopted and followed this idea in public life,” Lalu wrote.
The development came a day after a post was shared on Tej Pratap’s Facebook profile of him with a woman, along with a caption that indicated they had been in a relationship for 12 years. The post was later deleted and Tej Pratap wrote in a post on X: “My social media platforms have been hacked and my pictures are being wrongly edited to harass and defame me and my family members. I appeal to my well-wishers and followers to be cautious and ignore rumours.”
Tej Pratap, who briefly served as the Health Minister of Bihar from 2015 to 2017, has always been a curious case in Bihar politics. Though older than Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, in official papers he is shown as younger than Tejashwi. At his actual age of 37 years, he seems to have now reconciled to younger Tejashwi, the Grand Alliance’s CM face, being their father’s political successor.
Tej Pratap, who had turned a rebel during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign and fielded three supporters as Independents, later formed Lalu Rabri Morcha to register his defiance. He was later forced to be content with the slogan “Tej Raftaar, Tejashwi Sarkar (high speed Tejashwi government)” — happy with just his name figuring in some way in the political stakes, and hopeful that while Tejashwi is clear No. 1, there was still scope for No. 2. In the short-lived RJD-JD(U) government, Tej Pratap was the No 3 before senior RJD leaders such as Abdul Bari Siddiqui.
In 2020, Tej Pratap had family members rushing to his side when he suddenly took ill. A few hours later, the two brothers were seen seated next to each other during the Grand Alliance’s seat-sharing announcements.
Tej Pratap had reportedly wanted some of his nominees to be given tickets. Though it was not clear how many of them were accommodated, the party did shift him as a candidate from his sitting Mahua (Vaishali) seat to Hasanpur (Samastipur) because of better chances of winning. Though he served as the state health minister, Tej Pratap is not known for his administrative skills.
Tej Pratap has his own world, divided between his deities and his group of supporters, some of whom call him “Teju Bhaiya”. He lives in a separate official bungalow, which was incidentally promptly allotted by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar when the two parties were in alliance. Like his favourite God Krishna, Tej Pratap is often photographed playing the flute. He also likes to compare himself and Tejashwi to Krishna and his disciple Arjuna.
Fond of motorcycles and flying aircraft — he is said to be trying to get his pilot’s licence — the RJD leader is said to have been given the name Tej for the strong wind that blew at the time of his birth. He developed a late interest in politics, long after Tejashwi started emerging as Lalu’s heir apparent. An organisation Tej Pratap floated, ambitiously named Dharmnirpeksh Sevak Sangh (DSS), is almost dormant now.
After winning his way to the top after a bitter family tussle, Tejashwi is aware of the problems Tej Pratap can create and will likely keep a keen eye on his brother’s next moves.
