Bihar Junction: Day after RJD debacle, Lalu daughter Rohini quits politics, disowns family

Earlier this year, Acharya’s elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav was expelled both from the party and his family following a controversy over his personal life.

In a post on X, Acharya wrote: “I am quitting politics and disowning my family… This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez have asked me to do. I am taking all the blame.” Sanjay Yadav is a Haryana-based IT expert and RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP, while Rameez Zahir hails from UP and handles social media for the party. Both are close to Lalu’s trusted son Tejashwi Yadav.

Acharya’s post set political circles in Patna buzzing with BJP president Dilip Jaiswal terming it “unfortunate”. “It was Rohini who donated her kidney to save Lalu. There appears to be a power struggle within the family,” he was quoted as saying.

While the RJD refused to comment, a former party MLA said: “Acharya through her post has made it clear that Sanjay Yadav controls both Tejashwi and the party.”

Only yesterday, Tej Pratap had embarrassed the family by writing a post on the social media in which he attributed National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) victory to its unity. He described RJD’s debacle as “the end of family rule” in Bihar and went on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Home Minister Amit Shah’s role as Chanakya of the NDA and CM Nitish Kumar’s vision for Bihar.

The RJD won just 25 seats, a drastic fall from 75 it held in the previous Assembly. What is more disheartening for the RJD is the fact that the NDA won two seats in Patna where Lalu had personally campaigned for the party candidates.

Acharya — named after lady doctor who delivered her — is based out of Singapore and, like her elder sister Misa Bharti, did her MBBS before marriage.

While Bharti had made her interest in politics known in 2014 when she unsuccessfully contested from the Patliputra parliamentary seat and was later sent to the Rajya Sabha, Acharya had thrown her hat in the ring in 2024 when she contested from the Chhapra Lok Sabha seat and narrowly lost to BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudi.

In September this year, Acharya created a stir when she shared a post of an RJD follower who took objection to Sanjay Yadav occupying the front seat of the campaign van — the seat meant only for Lalu or Tejashwi.

The rift within the family became wider when she unfollowed RJD leaders and left for Singapore. She, however, returned ahead of the Assembly polls and started supporting Tejashwi again. But the reconciliation was shortlived as she blessed her rebel brother Tej Pratap on the social media when he filed his nomination papers from the Mahua Assembly seat against the RJD candidate.

Fissures within the family had emerged much earlier though, when Lalu promoted Tejashwi as his political successor in 2019. Tej Pratap first described his younger brother as his Arjun, but their relationship took a downturn when Sanjay Yadav made his entry and Tej Pratap accused him of not allowing him to meet his brother.

The flashpoint came on May 24 this year when Tejashwi announced Tej Pratap’s expulsion from both the party and family, prompting the latter to launch his own political outfit.