‘It is an internal matter, will be resolved in family’: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s first reaction on family feud

Amid fissures in the Yadav family, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has broken his silence, saying he is there to handle it. Defending his family, Prasad said, “This is an internal family matter and will be resolved within the family. I am here to handle it.”

Lalu’s remarks came in the wake of his daughter Rohini Acharya’s allegation that the blame for the RJD’s drubbing in the recently concluded Bihar polls is being pinned on her. Rohini claimed that she had been mistreated by her brother, Tejashwi Yadav, who was the Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face.

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Lalu’s comments came during a meeting of RJD legislators, who unanimously selected his younger son Tejashwi Yadav as the leader of the legislative party. The patriarch appealed for unity within the party. However, his wife, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, maintained pin-drop silence. Meanwhile, Misa Bharti, the eldest daughter, called for negotiations among party members. She told the media, “These things happen in families and get settled through talks.”

Also Read: https://www.thestatesman.com/india/rohini-acharya-says-she-has-disowned-just-brother-tejashwi-yadav-amid-family-feud-1503513044.html

After the poll debacle, Rohini Acharya said she had to quit politics and distance herself from the family because of Tejashwi’s aides Rameez Khan and Sanjay Yadav. Meanwhile, the eldest son, Tej Pratap Yadav, who had earlier distanced himself from the family and formed his own party, came out in support of Rohini, saying, “I have kept quiet in the face of insults, but I will not tolerate any insult to my Rohini.”

Tejashwi Yadav, the youngest of the clan, has not commented on the feud.

A dramatic post was put up by Rohini around 2:30 pm the day after counting (November 15, 2024), shaking up political circles.

“I’m quitting politics and I’m disowning my family…,” she wrote. Minutes later, she edited the post, adding: “This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do…nd I’m taking all the blame’s (sic).”

Sanjay and Rameez are among Tejashwi’s closest aides. Soon after, Rohini told reporters she had been “thrown out of the house” for questioning the party’s defeat.

“The entire party is asking why we lost. But people like Sanjay and Rameez are avoiding the questions. If he (Sanjay Yadav) wants to be Chanakya, then it is Chanakya who will have to face the questions,” she said.

In a series of emotional remarks, she added, “I no longer have a family. Ask Sanjay Yadav, Rameez, and Tejashwi… They removed me from the family because they don’t want to take responsibility for the loss. If I take the names of Sanjay and Rameez, I get thrown out of the house, insulted, and beaten with slippers…,” she said, adding, “may no house ever have a daughter like Rohini.”

Also Read: https://www.thestatesman.com/india/rohini-acharya-says-she-has-disowned-just-brother-tejashwi-yadav-amid-family-feud-1503513044.html

On Sunday, Rohini again took to social media, alleging abuse and humiliation at her parents’ home.

“Yesterday, a daughter, a sister, a married woman, a mother was humiliated, with filthy abuses, and someone even picked up a slipper to hit me. I did not compromise on my self-respect, I did not surrender the truth, and only because of this, I had to endure this humiliation.”

She said she was told she had given a “dirty kidney” to her father, Lalu Prasad Yadav, in return for an election ticket.

“Yesterday, along with abuses, I was told that I am dirty, and that I gave my “dirty kidney” to my father, that I took crores of rupees, that I got a ticket and then gave that dirty kidney… To all daughters and sisters who are married, I want to say: if there is a son or brother in your ‘mayka’, then never—even by mistake—save your father, your God-like parent,” she wrote.

The RJD, led by Tejashwi Yadav, won 25 of the 143 seats it contested and secured 23 per cent of the vote share, the highest for any single party in the election, surpassing both the BJP and the JD(U).