'Has he committed crime?' Anushka Yadav's brother condemns Tej Pratap's expulsion from RJD

Patna, May 27 (PTI) Condemning the expulsion of Tej Pratap Yadav from RJD, Akash Yadav on Tuesday rued the "character assassination" of his sister Anushka Yadav, with whom the former Bihar minister's photo was shared on social media stating that they were in a relationship for 12 years and later deleted.

Akash also demanded an investigation into Tej Pratap's claim that his Facebook page, on which the photo was shared, was hacked.

"I strongly condemn Tej Pratap Yadav's expulsion from the party. I wish to ask Lalu ji, why this action? Has he committed a crime that could bring disrepute to his family?" asked Akash, said to have been a close friend of the RJD supremo's elder son.

He parried questions about the controversial Facebook post in which Tej Pratap had purportedly spoken of having been "in a relationship for 12 years" with Anushka.

"It is not for me to speak about my sister's personal life before the press. It is not a public matter. She and Tej Pratap may speak on the issue if they wish to do so," said Akash.

He, however, rued the "character assassination" of Anushka ever since the Facebook post appeared on Saturday evening, only to be disowned by Tej Pratap hours later with the claim that the page had been "hacked".

Tej Pratap, with whom Lalu Prasad has also snapped all family ties, is married to Aishwarya, a grandchild of former Bihar chief minister Daroga Prasad Rai, and their divorce petition, filed within months of their wedding in 2018, is pending before a court here.

Akash also congratulated Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap's younger brother, upon the birth of a son.

"I want to offer some advice to Tejashwi Yadav. The responsibility of salvaging the reputation of two families lies on his shoulders. We do not have much to lose or gain, but he has huge stakes," he said.

Tejashwi, the heir apparent of Lalu Prasad, heads the coordination committee of the INDIA bloc set up in the state ahead of the assembly elections, due later this year.

He is said to have been upset over Tej Pratap's claim of returning to the Mahua seat in the upcoming assembly polls. Tej Pratap had made his debut from the seat in 2015, but was shifted to Hasanpur five years later, according to party insiders.

Situated close to Raghopur, Tejashwi Yadav's own seat, Mahua is currently represented by his confidant Mukesh Raushan, who had burst into tears upon hearing that Tej Pratap wanted to reclaim the constituency.

Speculations are rife that Lalu Prasad, known to be a doting father to all his nine children, bit the bullet in Tej Pratap's case out of concern about the reputation of his younger son.

Party leaders, however, did not want to go on record to comment on the episode. PTI NAC SOM