Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav pushes a party worker off the stage
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav was seen in a video pushing away a party worker from the stage during a celebration.
Tej Pratap Yadav along with his sister Misa Bharti, who filed her papers from Patlipura seat today for the Lok Sabha elections, were seen on a stage waving to supporters as they celebrated her nomination.
Both were surrounded by party workers wearing green caps, the RJD's colour.
Suddenly, Tej Pratap Yadav grabbed a party worker who was standing beside him, and pushed him hard. The party worker nearly fell off the stage. Within seconds, the crowd took him away from the stage.
Later, Tej Pratap Yadav in a post on the microblogging website X said it was not his intention to push the party worker, but had to at that moment.
"The public is most important for me. Respecting the public is our duty," he said.
"I want to tell those people who are making my video viral that a coin has two sides. You have seen one side. On the other side, the candidate Misa Bharti and my mother were together and he came in between them and pushed me. My hand was injured. He pushed me... I was forced to push him aside to save myself. My intention was never to hurt anyone," Tej Pratap Yadav said in the post in Hindi.
The incident has sparked outrage on social media, with RJD rivals criticising the behaviour of Tej Pratap Yadav.
"Lalu Prasad Yadav's good-for-nothing son Tej Pratap Yadav living upto his family tradition. Watch how he brutally manhandles a party worker in full public view. This is the difference between earning your stature and inheriting it," BJP leader Priti Gandhi said in a post on X.
After filing her papers, Misa Bharti told reporters Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government in the centre have not done anything for Bihar.
"PM Modi has been ruling for the last 10 years; people gave him two chances. Had he done anything for the country, he would not have to hold a roadshow," she said.
Misa Bharti will contest against the BJP's Ram Kripal Yadav. Voting in the Pataliputra constituency is on June 1.
In 2014, Ram Kripal revolted after Lalu Yadav decided to field Misa Bharti from the Patliputra seat. Then Ram Kripal Yadav joined the BJP.
The Pataliputra seat has six assembly segments, including Danapur, Maner, Phulwari, Masaurhi, Paliganj, and Bikram.
Misa Bharti lost to Ram Kripal Yadav in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.