Tej Pratap, Misa missing from RJD’s star campaigners’ list for bypolls, Tejashwi second only to Lalu

The list, which was submitted to Election Commission of India ( ECI) on Thursday by party’s national principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui, has Lalu Prasad’s name at the top, followed by his younger son and leader of the opposition in Bihar, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, and Siddiqui in the third place.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son and MLA Tej Pratap Yadav and elder daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti have not found place in the party’s start campaigners’ list for bypolls to the two assembly seats in Bihar due on October 30.  

RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav. (PTI)

The list, which was submitted to Election Commission of India ( ECI) on Thursday by party’s national principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui, has Lalu Prasad’s name at the top, followed by his younger son and leader of the opposition in Bihar, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, and Siddiqui in the third place.

There are in all 20 names in the list, including of former minister Jay Prakash Yadav and former MLA Bhola Yadav and other state leaders. Former chief minister Rabri Devi doesn’t figure in the list.

In the past, Tej Pratap, state’s former health minister, has often voiced his frustration against several party leaders.

Two days back, RJD’s national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary raised eyebrows when he publically said Tej Pratap was “not in the party as he had formed his own outfit”.

Tej Pratap had recently formed a student outfit, called Chhatra Janshakhti Parishad. He had also alleged recently that the RJD chief was being kept “hostage” in New Delhi by some leaders in the party. Prasad, who suffers from multiple ailments, has been recuperating at Misa Bharti’s residence in New Delhi after being granted bail in fodder scam cases in April this year.

RJD’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh, who has been at the receiving end of Tej Pratap’s outbursts many a time, said the latter’s omission did not have anything to do with him. “We have picked leaders for the campaigning who have been regularly working in these two constituencies and have a connect with the electorate. Is my name there in the list?” he asked.

“The list has been approved by the RJD chief,” Siddiqui said on phone from New Delhi.

BJP’s state spokesperson Nikhil Anand said the omission of Tej Pratap and Misa Bharti indicated that the elder son has been “ousted” from the party and the daughter would not get a fresh Rajya Sabha nomination.