New Delhi: The political differences between Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav have come out in the open with the former asking his supporters not to support the official Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate from Saran Lok Sabha seat, Chandrika Rai, who incidentally also happens to be his father-in-law. Earlier this week, Tej Pratap had announced that he was the “second” Lalu Yadav of Bihar, effectively announcing that he was the rightful heir to the party and not Tejashwi.
On Friday, Tej Pratap took to Facebook to express his sentiments while describing his father-in-law as an imposter, a thug and a chameleon who was out to fool the voters of Saran, a seat which has traditionally been represented by his father, Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Saran, which was earlier a part of Chapra till 2008, goes to the polls on 6 May and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy is in the fray from the seat as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate.
On Friday, Tej Pratap, who has modelled his political image on the lines of Lalu Yadav, wrote on his Facebook account, “I appeal to the public of Saran with folded hands not to cast vote in favour of the RJD candidate. This seat has been held by my father Lalu Prasad Yadav in the past. Please do not give your valuable vote in favour of this bahrupiya who is not even a member of my family. He is an outsider contesting on my family’s traditional seat. This person frequently changes his colours like a chameleon. I again make an appeal to you not to give your vote to this nautankibaaz and fake candidate.”
This development, according to Patna-based political observers, has brought into fore the sharp political divide within the Yadav family, with Tej Pratap on one side, and rest on the other.
Sources close to the family said that the 30-year-old Tej Pratap, who is an MLA, had sought tickets from Tejashwi from the two seats of Jahanabad and Sheohar for his two supporters, something which was denied by Tejashwi, leading to the souring of relationship between the brothers. A close family aide said: “Sometimes he is not taken seriously by his family members. The family is missing the presence of Laluji; if he was there, these kind of things would not have happened. Tejashwi could give 11 seats to party like RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samta Party), HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha) and VIP (Vikassheel Insaan Party), but he could not give two tickets to candidates whom his brother was pushing for? The party belongs to both.”
Tej Pratap’s post on Facebook came after Chandrika Rai told the media that Tej Pratap had played a prank with the media on 1 April when he had said that he will campaign against Rai in Saran, adding that the separation issue going on between Tej Pratap and Rai’s daughter, Aishwarya, will soon be sorted out. However, Tej Pratap, reacting to his father-in-law’s statement, called him a chameleon on his Facebook post and later told the media that his divorce petition is in the court and he was firm on his decision to take divorce from wife.A day before, Tej Pratap had made a passing remark on his brother Tejashwi, who is now the de-facto president of the RJD, and who had to stop campaigning midway after suffering from heat wave. “Some people fell ill after addressing a few election meetings. Laluji used to address 10 to 12 election meetings in a day. I am the second Lalu,” Tej Pratap said. He remarked while campaigning for Chandra Prakash Yadav who is contesting from Jehanabad on “Lalu-Rabri” morcha which was brought into existence by Tej Prasad on 1 April.