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Tej Pratap alleges father being kept ‘hostage’, Tejashwi rubbishes it
The RJD chief has been recuperating at the New Delhi residence of elder daughter Misa Bharti. In a recent interaction, Lalu Prasad said he would soon come to Patna and tour every district in the state
Fissures in Bihar’s principal opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) came to the fore with party chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav suggesting that his father was being kept ‘hostage’ in New Delhi and someone was trying to ‘usurp’ the post of the party's president. The comment was widely interpreted to be aimed at Tej Pratap’s younger brother and leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav .
Tejashwi responded by saying that living like a hostage was out of character for the 74 year old former railway minister.
“Laluji has been the chief minister of Bihar for a long time and also a Central minister. He was instrumental in the election of two former Prime Ministers . He had also ordered the arrest of BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani. So, such allegations do not fit in with the personality of the RJD chief,” Tejashwi said, while talking to reporters at Patna airport soon after returning from New Delhi.
When prodded further if Tej Pratap was venting his frustration, Tejashwi evaded a direct reply and repeated that the RJD chief cannot be kept under any influence .
On Saturday, Tej Pratap had blurted out against the top party leadership and taken oblique potshots at his younger brother during an event of his newly formed Chhatra Janshakti Parishad in Patna.
“ Laluji is not being allowed to come to Patna and those dreaming of becoming the party’s president are keeping him hostage in New Delhi. The RJD chief is not being allowed to come to Patna despite having spent several months in the national capital after being released from jail in April. I do not want to take names as everybody knows them,” Tej Paratp said.
The RJD chief has been recuperating at the New Delhi residence of elder daughter Misa Bharti. In a recent interaction, he had said he would soon come to Patna and tour every district in the state.
For the last few months, Tej Pratap has been at loggerheads with his younger brother and party’s state president Jagdanand Singh apparently over his diminishing clout in the party. A month back, he had called the state president Singh authoritarian and accused him of acting in an arbitrary manner. Reports said Singh, hurt by the barbs, had offered to resign but was persuaded to stay on by the RJD chief . It is said that Tej Pratap is also angry with Tejashwi and RJD state president’s decision to remove the president of the party’s youth wing, Akash Yadav , who was considered close to him.
“ The way the party is functioning, it will not help in strengthening its organisation but only weaken it,” Tej Pratap said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nikhil Anand said the allegation that the RJD chief was ‘hostage’ in New Delhi was of serious nature. “ Though it is an internal matter of Lalu’s family, our concern about the RJD chief’s health and well being is natural. We feel, Tejashwi should give a clarification so that we can be assured of Lalu Prasad’s well being,” Anand said.
