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Tejashwi Yadav appointed RJD working president: ‘Dawn of new era’
The appointment was announced during the RJD’s national executive meeting, where party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav handed over the appointment letter to his son.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Sunday formally elevated former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav as its national working president, signalling a generational shift in the party’s leadership as it looks to strengthen its footprint in the state’s charged political landscape.
The appointment was announced during the inaugural session of the RJD’s national executive meeting, where party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav handed over the appointment letter to his son in the presence of senior leaders. Former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi were both present at the event.
The RJD did not previously have the post of a national working president. The creation of the role and Tejashwi Yadav’s elevation mark a structural change in the party’s organisational setup.
The organisational reshuffle comes in the backdrop of the RJD’s poor performance in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. The party, which led the Mahagathbandhan alliance along with the Congress, managed to win only 25 of the 143 seats it contested.
However, despite the setback in terms of seats, the RJD emerged as the single largest party by vote share in the election and Tejashwi registered victory from the Raghopur seat.
The president move is expected to give the 36-year-old Yadav scion greater authority in the party’s organisational hierarchy and day-to-day functioning.
Yadav family tensions
The leadership reshuffle also comes amid visible tensions within Lalu Yadav's family. In recent months, Tejashwi Yadav’s siblings – including estranged elder brother and former minister Tej Pratap Yadav, and elder sister Rohini Acharya have made public remarks about instability withing RJD and the family.
Acharya, recently, made oblique remarks targeting the former deputy chief minister over the party’s poor performance in the October–November Assembly elections last year.
Tej Pratap Yadav was expelled from RJD for 6 years over his 'irresponsible behaviour', after which he made his own party called Janshakti Janta Dal (JJD). He lost in the recently concludede Bihar Assembly election from Mahua constituency.
