Bihar Assembly polls: Tej Pratap Yadav announces new party ‘Jan Shakti Janata Dal’

Bihar Assembly polls: Ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, announced on Friday that he has established a new political outfit for what he termed “a long battle” in the state.

Earlier this year, Yadav was expelled from the RJD.

In a social media post on the platform X, Tej Pratap shared a poster for the Jan Shakti Janata Dal, naming himself its “national president” and featuring a “blackboard” as its election symbol. This development follows the former state minister's claim in August that a coalition of five lesser-known parties had formed under his leadership. The Assembly elections in Bihar are scheduled to take place later this year.

However, sources within the Election Commission in Patna informed the news agency PTI that they were not yet aware of the party being officially registered or having been formally allotted an election symbol.

Family Feud

The RJD appears to be bracing itself for a family feud involving its founding president, Lalu Prasad, just before the Bihar Assembly elections. Evident notes of discord have emerged from his elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, and daughter, Rohini Acharya.

Tej Pratap has been sulking ever since Prasad expelled him from the party, while Acharya, who has reportedly been nurturing political ambitions, has raised eyebrows with a series of cryptic social media posts over the past few days.

Recently, Acharya (47) posted on her X handle: “I have been performing my duties as a daughter and a sister and will continue to do so. Neither am I hankering after a post nor do I have any political ambitions. For me, self-respect is supreme.”

In another post, she shared a video shot while she was being taken to the operating theatre for the surgery that saved her father's life in 2022.

“For those who are ready to make sacrifices, putting their own life at stake, fearlessness, boldness, and self-respect run in the blood,” Acharya wrote.

A medical graduate who opted to be a homemaker and reside with her husband in Singapore, Acharya first garnered public attention in 2022 when she donated a kidney to her father, who required a transplant.

In 2024, she made an unsuccessful electoral debut standing in the Saran constituency, which had previously been represented by her father many years ago.