PatnaSeptember 21, 2025 08:04 PM IST
First published on: Sep 21, 2025 at 08:04 PM IST
Divisions have appeared in the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) first family over the growing clout of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s advisor Sanjay Yadav, it is learnt, with the differences coming into full public view after party chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya unfollowed him and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on X.
Last week, Rohini, the second of Lalu’s seven daughters, reposted a criticism of Sanjay Yadav’s visibility at her brother and state Leader of Opposition Tejashwi’s five-day “Bihar Adhikar Yatra”, which concluded Saturday. With the Rajya Sabha MP pictured seated in the front seat of the yatra bus, the social media post stated that the seat was for either Lalu Prasad or Tejashwi and should remain unoccupied in their absence.
“The front seat is always designated for top leadership,” read the post by a person named Alok Kumar. “No one should sit on it even when the leader is absent. It is a different matter when someone has the notion of being bigger than the top leader. We, along with the people of Bihar, are used to seeing Lalu Prasad or Tejashwi Prasad Yadav taking the front seat. We cannot tolerate anyone else sitting in the front seat. However, we cannot comment on sycophants who see in a person a unique strategist, advisor, and saviour.”
An RJD insider said Rohini’s reposting of the criticism kicked up a furore in the party’s first family. “She faced criticism from the family for indirectly targeting Sanjay Yadav. She was under pressure to do damage control.”
The party tried to play down the differences in the family over Sanjay Yadav by getting Dalit leaders Shiv Chandra Ram and Rekha Paswan to take the front seat during the yatra. This provided Rohini a cover and she posted on X last Thursday, “It has been the prime motto of Lalu Prasad’s socio-economic justice campaign to bring forward the deprived and people on the last rung of the social ladder. It is heartening to see people from these sections sitting in the front seat in these pictures.”
Rohini holds a medical degree, like her elder sister Misa Bharati, and made the headlines in 2022 when she donated a kidney to her father. The surgery took place at a hospital in Singapore. After returning to Patna, Lalu Prasad showered praises on his daughter. Rohini contested the Lok Sabha elections last year from Saran and lost narrowly to incumbent BJP MP and former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Online trolling and response
As she continued to be trolled online over her alleged political ambitions, she sent a signal on her position by posting a 2022 video of being taken into the operation theatre at the Singapore hospital. Soon afterwards, she unfollowed a host of people, including Lalu and Tejashwi. At present, she follows only three X accounts: her husband Samaresh Singh, Urdu poet Rahat Indori, and a newspaper.
On Sunday, Rohini posted on X, taking aim at those with “ulterior motives to hijack the party”.
“All the rumours being spread about me are baseless and part of a malicious campaign aimed at damaging my reputation, fuelled by trolls, unruly individuals, paid media, and those with ulterior motives to hijack the party. I have never had, do not have, and will not have any political ambitions. I neither aspire to become a legislative Assembly candidate myself nor do I wish to make anyone else a candidate. I have no desire to become a member of the Rajya Sabha, nor do I have any rivalry with any family member. I do not covet any position in the party or any future government. For me, my self-respect, respect and dedication towards my parents, and my family’s reputation are paramount,” she wrote.
While no one from the family reacted to the current controversy, her brother and former Bihar Minister Tej Pratap Yadav, who is estranged from the family, said on Saturday, “My sister has raised very valid questions. Her concerns (regarding the growing influence of Sanjay Yadav).” Tej Pratap has also expressed concern about Sanjay Yadav’s growing influence, though without naming him.
Sanjay Yadav, who became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2024. is from Haryana and was introduced to Tejashwi in 2012 by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Sanjay was instrumental in preparing Tejashwi for his political debut, exposing him to socialist literature and conducting mock interviews to face the media. Though Sanjay and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha were equally important in the RJD power structure till 2020, the former seems to have prevailed over all senior party leaders in the last two to three years and almost all of Tejashwi’s meetings and media interactions are routed through him.