Cryptic posts by Lalu’s daughter trigger speculation of friction in family ahead of Bihar polls

Patna, Sep 20 (PTI) The RJD seems to be bracing for a feud in the family of its founding president Lalu Prasad ahead of the assembly polls in Bihar, as notes of apparent discord have emanated from elder son Tej Pratap Yadav and daughter Rohini Acharya.

While Tej Pratap has been sulking ever since Prasad expelled him from the party earlier this year, Acharya, who has been nursing political ambitions, raised eyebrows with a series of cryptic tweets in the past few days.

Acharya, 47, came out with a post on her X handle on Friday in which she wrote: "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 yet another post, she shared a video shot while she was being taken to the operation 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 chose to be a homemaker and settle with her husband in Singapore, Acharya first came to the limelight in 2022 when she donated a kidney to her father, who was in need of a transplant.

Last year, she made an unsuccessful electoral debut from Saran constituency, which was represented by her father long ago. After lying low for a while, she was again seen in public last month when she joined Prasad's heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.

Speculations were rife that Acharya wanted to try her luck, again, in the upcoming assembly polls but, according to sources, got a cold shoulder from Tejashwi.

Meanwhile, Tej Pratap, who has vowed to queer the pitch for his father's party by forming a motley coalition of non-descript parties, came out in support of Acharya.

"Rohini is much elder to me. As a child, I have played in her lap. The sacrifice she had made is hard for any daughter, sister and mother. The anguish she has expressed is justified," he said.

The former state minister, who is a devotee of Lord Krishna, added in his trademark style, "I am fully with my sister in the ongoing episode. Whoever dares to insult her will have to face the ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ (a discus used by the deity to slay his adversaries)".

Reacting to the remarks, the ruling NDA in the state contended that the RJD seems to be heading for a “full-fledged bloodbath”.

"It is not a rift, but a full-fledged bloodbath that the RJD seems to be heading for," said Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, national spokesman of the JD(U).

"Lalu Prasad's family has been shaken by a gate-crashing from Haryana," said Prasad, in an oblique reference to Sanjay Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP and key aide of Tejashwi, whose "arrogance and authoritarian streak" was blamed by the JD(U) leader for his elder siblings feeling alighted.

Prasad also claimed that the RJD chief’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti, who managed to win a Lok Sabha election last year in her third attempt, also "does not have good equations with Tejashwi".

However, the 35-year-old Leader of Opposition in the assembly sought to dismiss such speculations.

"There is no problem in the party or the family. The NDA is staring at a defeat in the polls and is clutching at straws," Tejashwi asserted. PTI NAC RBT