Lalu Yadav’s daughter Rohini Acharya claimed she was ‘thrown out of the family’ by Tejashwi Yadav and aide Sanjay Yadav. She alleged she was ‘disgraced, abused, and even hit’ after questioning the RJD’s poor showing in the Bihar Assembly polls.
Tejashwi Yadav and his close aide RJD MP Sanjay Yadav have “thrown” her out of the family, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Rohini Acharya claimed on Saturday hours after announcing her decision to “quit politics” and “disown” her family.
Tejashwi’s sister alleged that she was “disgraced, abused, and even hit” when she questioned Sanjay Yadav for the party’s defeat. “I have no family. You can go and ask this to Sanjay Yadav, Rameez, and Tejashwi Yadav. They are the ones who threw me out of the family,” Rohini Acharya told reporters in her first reaction after being asked about her ‘shocking’ announcement earlier in the day.
‘Abused and Even Hit’ for Questioning Defeat
Claiming that the party leadership don’t want to take responsibility for the defeat in the Bihar Assembly election, Rohini Acharya said that when she called out Tejashwi Yadav’s close aide Sanjay Yadav for the party’s defeat, she was “thrown out of the house, disgraced, abused, and even hit”.
“They don’t want to take any responsibility… The whole nation is asking why the party failed like this. When you name Sanjay Yadav and Rameez, you are thrown out of the house, disgraced, abused, and even hit,” she said. RJD suffered poorly in Bihar assembly polls as the party got just 25 seats, despite contesting on more than 140 seats in the 243-member state assembly.
Earlier on Saturday, Rohini Acharya has announced to “quit” politics and “disown” her family and took all “blame” for the party’s poor show in the polls. “I’m quitting politics and I’m disowning my family … This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do and I’m taking all the blame,” Acharya said.
Widening Cracks in Lalu’s Family
With her “disowning” family, the cracks within Lalu Yadav’s family have widened as her brother Tej Pratap Yadav, was expelled from both the party and family earlier this year following a controversy over his personal life.
BJP Reacts to ‘Internal Matter’
Reacting on Rohini Acharya’s decision to leave family, Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal said that it is the family’s “internal matter” and not “appropriate to comment on it too much”. However, Dilip Jaiswal did request the family to “not break apart due to one individual” and said that Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi need to save this family.
“This is an internal family matter of Lalu Yadav’s family. I would request that the family not break apart. If the family is breaking up because of one individual, that is not appropriate. Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi need to save the family. This is a family matter, so it is not appropriate to comment too much on it,” Jaiswal said.
He also mentioned that Rohini Acharya donated a kidney to Lalu Yadav, urging the family to resolve the internal matter. “Rohini Acharya has donated her kidney to save Lalu Yadav. Lalu Yadav’s family is constantly falling apart due to the actions of one or two individuals; no one will like it. I also want to say that if a family is falling apart because of one person, it is not right.”
Reacting to the matter, BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “This is their family matter. It is possible that she is feeling some disappointment. I think that RJD is disintegrating, and the signs are not good.”
Context: Tej Pratap Yadav’s Expulsion
Earlier this year, Tej Pratap Yadav was expelled from the RJD and Lalu family following a controversy over his Facebook post in which he claimed to be in a relationship, sparking a public fallout with his family. The incident revived discussions around his past marital issues, including his ongoing divorce case with Aishwarya Rai, granddaughter of former Bihar CM Daroga Rai.
Tej Pratap Yadav went on to launch his own party, the Janshakti Janta Dal (JJD) and contested from Mahua Assembly constituency. He faced a major setback, finishing a distant third as Sanjay Kumar Singh of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) secured a thumping victory with a margin of 44997 votes, while RJD candidate Mukesh Kumar Raushan stood second.
RJD’s Poor Show in Bihar Assembly Polls
Rohini Acharya’s decision to sever ties with her family came a day after RJD suffered a major loss in the Bihar Assembly election. The NDA’s ‘tsunami’ swept away the opposition RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party with 89 seats, and the Janata Dal (United) finishing a close second with 85.
The other allies of the ruling coalition also registered high strike rates as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJPRV) won 19, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAMS) won five, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha won four seats. The parties of the Mahagathbandhan, including the RJD and Congress, suffered significant setbacks, and Jan Suraaj, which had hoped for an impressive debut after its founder, Prashant Kishor, conducted an extensive campaign, failed to open its account.
The ruling NDA got 202 seats, a three-fourths majority in the 243-member House. This is the second time the NDA has crossed the 200-mark in the assembly polls. In the 2010 polls, it had won 206 seats.
Mahagathbandhan got just 35 seats with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) winning 25 seats, Congress 6, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) – CPI(ML)(L) – two, Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) – one and Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) one seat. While All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won five seats, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got one seat. (ANI)
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