Lalu Prasad Yadav Expels Son Tej Pratap from RJD Over ‘Lack of Conformity to Party Values’

Lalu Prasad Yadav Expels Son: The Chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday expelled his son and past Bihar Minister, Tej Pratap Yadav, from his party for six years citing irresponsible behavior and non-conformity to probity and family values.

The action came a day after the past minister posted pictures of a woman with a statement saying he had been in a relationship with the woman for a for 12 years on social media.

Tej Pratap Yadav, who is 37 and member of the Bihar assembly, married Aishwariya Rai in 2018. The process for their divorce is still ongoing in a court. The past minister, who has a reputation for being unpredictable and displays off-the-cuff statements, deleted the pictures that he shared on X and claimed to have been hacked. “...pictures had been edited in a wrong manner to harass and defame me and my family...I caution my followers to remain alert and not get influenced by any rumours.”

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This expulsion was also seen as a part of the RJD's attempt to push back against mounting ridicule from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) as they prepare for the assembly polls expected later this year.

In a post on X, the RJD chief stated that a violation of moral values distorts the struggle for social justice. “My elder son’s activities, public conduct, and irresponsible behaviour are not in conformity with our family’s values and culture. ...I distance my son from the party and my family. From now on, he would have no association with our party and family.”

Tej Pratap Yadav has previously created controversies, many through his diatribes against the state RJD chief Jagdanand Singh, a loyalist to party chief and mentor to brother Tejashwi Yadav. He has previously expressed reservations about Tejashwi Yadav's primacy in the party through various means.

Tejashwi Yadav said indiscipline will not be tolerated

The RJD chief spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav said the party was based on the values and ideology of social justice. “ The decision taken by our party president only indicates how our party does not allow any irresponsible and indisciplined behaviour by any party leader or cadre.”

BJP leader Nikhil Anand said Tej Pratap Yadav should have disclosed this prior to his marriage. “He should seek an apology for this behaviour from the family of Aishwarya Rai,” he said, referring to Tej Pratap Yadav’s estranged wife.

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Tej Pratap was expelled as it was said he hoped for greater prominence in the party after he initiated Dharmanirpeksha (Secular) Sevak Sangh for an ideological alternative to the BJP's ideological source, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Lalu Prasad Yadav's brothers-in-law Anirudh Prasad Yadav alias Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav, formerly MPs, left the party with differences with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi former Railway minister and former CM.

The RJD was out of the government after 2005 however they came back to power as the 'grand alliance from 2015 to 2017, and most recently as part of the alliance government from August 2022 to January 2024.

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