‘Not allowed to see Tejashwi’: Tej Pratap storms out of meeting

The resentment between Tej Pratap and Singh had been growing for a while with the former referring to the latter as “Hitler” at a recent meeting of the party’s student wing.

The internal feud in the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) deepened on Friday after party chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son and MLA Tej Pratap Yadav, who has been involved in bitter exchanges with state unit chief Jagdanand Singh, stormed out of a meeting for allegedly not being allowed to talk to his younger brother Tejashwi Yadav.

File photo of RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav. (PTI)

The incident came a day after Tej Pratap demanded action against Singh for “violating” the party’s constitution by replacing the former’s aide Akash Yadav and appointing Gagan Kumar as the RJD youth wing president.

On Friday, the RJD MLA arrived at his mother and former chief minister Rabri Devi’s residence to meet his brother, Tejashwi, for a discussion on the appointment when he was allegedly stopped by party leader Sanjay Yadav. Sanjay is believed to be a close aide of Tejashwi. Minutes later, a visibly upset Tej Pratap left the house.

“He is coming between two brothers. He interrupted our conversation,” Tej Pratap told reporters.

“While I was meeting Tejashwi, Sanjay Yadav walked in and took him to another room. Who is he to stop two brothers from meeting?” he added.

The resentment between Tej Pratap and Singh had been growing for a while with the former referring to the latter as “Hitler” at a recent meeting of the party’s student wing.

Singh had stopped visiting the party office and had even skipped the Independence Day function.

Reacting to Tej Pratap’s feud with the state party chief, Tejashwi told news agency ANI: “He is my elder brother...but our parents have taught us to respect elders and stay disciplined...People get angry…”