RJD president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday attended the Makar Sankranti feast of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav at his home, months after expelling him from the party and breaking all personal ties.
Yadav, who formed the Janashakti Janata Dal (JJD) after the expulsion, met his parents and younger brother Tejashwi on Tuesday night and invited them to a feast of ‘dahi-chura’ (curd and flattened rice).
However, only Lalu Prasad reached Yadav’s house, who is over 70 years of age and remains indoors due to several health problems.
Lalu Prasad Yadav did not answer any questions from journalists, but the meeting sparked speculation whether it was a sign of reconciliation within the family, which is trying to recover from the shock of the humiliating defeat in the recent assembly elections.
Prasad had expelled Yadav from the RJD in May last year and announced that he would have “no connection with the family”. She criticized her elder son’s actions and public conduct, saying that his “irresponsible behavior” was “not in line with my family’s values”.
A day after Yadav was expelled, he announced on social media that despite being married and having a divorce petition pending in the family court, he was in a relationship with a woman for 12 years.
However, he deleted the post after a few hours and claimed on X that his Facebook page had been hacked.
Before the assembly elections, Yadav formed JJD and fielded candidates on several seats, but all of them lost their deposits.
Yadav had fueled speculation by attending a similar banquet organized by Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Tuesday. Neither of the two leaders confirmed or denied speculations about Yadav joining the BJP-led NDA.
Apart from Prasad, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan also attended the banquet organized at Yadav’s house.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other ministers attended the banquet hosted by senior JDU leader Ratnesh Sada.
Meanwhile, when Sinha was asked about Prasad visiting Yadav’s house, he said, “After all, they are family. When people forget their differences, even temporarily, how can they not be together on such a festival occasion?”
Sinha also targeted opposition leader Tejashwi, who was absent from the inaugural session of the current assembly held in December. Taking a dig at the RJD’s future successor, the BJP leader said, “I would advise him to spend less time in holidaying abroad.”
It is noteworthy that the RJD successor has returned after being out of the state for more than a month.
