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Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Tejashwi Yadav has more assets, is older than brother Tej Pratap as per affidavit
The affidavit filed by Tej Pratap and Tejashwi, who are contesting from Hasanpur and Raghopur assembly seats, respectively, showed that the latter is a notch above his older sibling as far as wealth, pending cases and even age are concerned
In poll-bound Bihar, bonhomie abounds between the two siblings -- Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav — of the main opposition party in the state, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), but the younger one is a cut above on all counts.
The affidavit filed by Tej Pratap and Tejashwi, who are contesting from Hasanpur and Raghopur assembly seats, respectively, showed that the latter is a notch above his older sibling as far as wealth, pending cases and even age are concerned.
Tejashwi, who is the RJD’s chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming three-phase assembly polls, is contesting from the Raghopur seat in Bihar’s Vaishali district.
Though he has less income than Tej Pratap, his assets outstrip his elder brother’s.
The affidavit showed that Tejashwi’s total assets are worth 5.88 crore, including movable and immovable properties of Rs 4.73 crore and Rs 1.15 crore, respectively.
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Tej Pratap’s total assets are worth Rs 2.82 crore, including both immovable and movable properties.
Tejahswi income-tax (I-T) returns for the last financial year (2019-20) showed his income was at Rs 2.80 lakh, a drastic dip in five years, when the RJD youth leader had made his electoral debut and had furnished earnings of Rs 39.80 lakh.
Tej Pratap’s income as per the I-T record for the corresponding period was Rs 3.11 lakh. In 2015, it was Rs 3.83 lakh.
However, Tej Pratap, who is known for his spiritual inclination, also has a materialistic facet to his personality. He possesses a BMW car and a top-of-the-line imported motorcycle, which cost Rs 29.43 lakh and Rs 15.46 lakh, respectively.
Surprisingly, the affidavit showed that Tejashwi (31), who is the younger of the two, is elder to Taj Pratap (30) by a year, albeit, on paper.
The age discrepancy between the siblings had first come to light during the 2015 assembly polls, when Tej Pratap and Tejashwi was shown at aged 25 and 26, respectively.
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“There are anomalies in the voters’ list and it also reflected in the affidavit. The brothers have gone by the voters’ list regarding their respective age,” said a RJD leader, requesting anonymity.
The RJD, which has been in the eye of a raging controversy over distributing election tickets to several history-sheeters or bahubalis, as known in Bihar’s local parlance, seems to be no exception, when it comes to the party’s first family.
The affidavit showed that Tejashwi has 11 cases pending against him, including seven criminal cases with charges related to money laundering, cheating and criminal conspiracy. The rest are civil cases against him.
In July 2017, Tejashwi had come under the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) scanner, along with other enforcement agencies, where his other siblings and parents -- RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi -- were also named in a corruption case.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is a part of the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government, had alleged that two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)-run hotels at Ranchi and Puri were awarded to private contractors in lieu of land during Prasad’s stint as railway minister.
Later, the CBI had filed a case against Prasad, Devi and Tejashwi in the IRCTC hotel tender scam.
“The allegations against Tejashwi is politically motivated,” said Manoj Jha, a RJD Rajya Sabha (RS) member and the party’s national spokesperson.
Bihar’s deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who had made a series of exposes about alleged corruption against Prasad and his family members in 2017, has taken fresh potshots at Tej Pratap. He has questioned how the elder Yadav scion could have amassed assets worth in crores even before he became a lawmaker in 2015.
However, Jha rebutted Modi’s assertions.
“Modi should first introspect about what all he has amassed for himself,” Jha retorted.
Bihar goes to polls on October 28, November 3 and 7.
The election results will be declared on November 10.
