Tej Pratap Yadav, expelled from the Rashtriya Janata Dal by his father Lalu Prasad Yadav, has found green pasture from campaigning - at home. His target: Brother Tejashwi Yadav. The situation has played into the hands of the ruling NDA alliance and provided them enough ammunition to target the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Tej Pratap Yadav.
In Raghopur to monitor the flood situation yesterday, Tej Pratap has targeted the sitting MLA, his brother.
"No one is helping you people, neither the Chief Minister nor your MLA," he told the locals. Tejashwi Yadav, he added, "is busy dancing" - a jibe at his younger brother's attempt at jiving with the youth, a video of which had recently gone viral.
Raghopur in south Bihar is a VIP constituency of sorts - and a family stronghold.
Before Tejashwi Yadav, the constituency was represented by both his parents - Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi - in assembly while they were Chief Ministers. Lalu Yadav won from there twice, and Rabri Devi three times.
BJP spokesperson Kuntal Krishna said as an MLA, Tej Pratap Yadav is free to go wherever he wants. "Who knows Tejashwi Yadav better than Tej Pratap Yadav now? Tej Pratap Yadav is calling Tejashwi useless".
Abhishek Jha from Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United said Tej Pratap Yadav is attacking his brother and the party after his expulsion. "I want to tell Tej Pratap Yadav that neither Lalu Yadav nor Tejaswi Yadav has done any development in Raghopur," he added.
Tej Pratap was expelled from the party in May by his father for "ignoring moral values" in personal life after he, in a Facebook post, apparently declared his love for a woman and said they have been in a relationship for 12 years. The post was soon deleted and Tej Pratap said his profile was hacked. But many questioned why despite the relationship he married former Bihar Minister Chandrika Rai's daughter Aishwarya in 2018. The two had separated months after the wedding.
In August, Tej Pratap declared his intention to run for election. So far, he has targeted the RJD multiple times.
In a social media post, he issued a warning for his brother, saying, "I want to tell Tejashwi that there is still time. Be careful of the Jaichands around you; otherwise, you will see very bad results in the elections".
"I am not able to understand whether Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav have come out to save democracy or to destroy democracy," he said in the post, which was released after an alleged scuffle involving a legislator's driver and a journalist during the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Aurangabad.
