RJD chief Lalu Prasad attended the ‘dahi-chuda’ feast hosted by his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav on Makar Sankranti, nearly eight months after expelling him from the party and family. |
Patna: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday participated at ‘dahi-chuda’ party hosted by his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at his residence, nearly eight months after expelling him from the party as well as also from the family.
Lalu, who is in his late 70s and keeps indoors because of multiple health complications, turned up at Tej Pratap’s house. Significantly, when a reporter asked Lalu whether he was unhappy with Tej Pratap, he replied in negative.
Besides Lalu, Bihar governor Arif Mohammad Khan, deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha and other dignitaries also attended the feast. Tej Pratap`s mother and former chief minister Rabri Devi, and his younger brother and leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Yadav skipped the feast. Tej Pratap had floated his own political outfit, Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD), after his expulsion from RJD and also unsuccessfully contested the last assembly election from Mahua. He was expelled from RJD by Lalu over his “irresponsible behaviour” and “violation of family values” after a Facebook post featured him with a woman. He claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and also deleted the post.
When reporters asked whether he would merge his JDD with RJD, Tej Pratap claimed the situation was the other way around, asserting that the RJD would instead merge with his party.
Tej Pratap said he received the blessings of his parents during the event.
“If Teju Bhaiya’s feast won’t be a super duper hit, then whose will be… A grand feast of dahi-chuda was organised… Our parents are God to us, so we’ll keep receiving their blessings… Everyone will come,” he said.
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Tej Pratap on Tuesday visited Patna’s 10 Circular Road bungalow to meet his father Lalu, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav. He met his family members and invited them for the ‘Dahi-Chuda’ feast.
Meanwhile, senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari slammed Tejashwi for not hosting the Makar Sankranti feast and heaping praise on Tej Pratap for organising such a party.
While Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) leader and former minister Tej Pratap Yadav organised Makar Sankranti party which was also attended by Lalu, there was no such a feast organised at 10, Circular Road bungalow where besides RJD chief, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav live.
On the social media site Facebook, Shivanand wrote, “Today (Wednesday), the politics of the Makar Sankranti Chura-Dahi feast is in full swing. If there is one person who seems completely immersed in this, it is Tej Pratap. Tejashwi is completely absent. There is silence at 10 Circular Road. It is the same 10 Circular Road, where RJD workers from every corner of Bihar once thronged. The ‘Chuda-Dahi’ was just an excuse. The real purpose was to meet the leaders. There were greetings and respectful salutations. Everyone returned to their areas with renewed energy from here. Today, it was needed even more…”
“Workers, dejected by the election results, needed reassurance. They needed to be motivated for the future. But when the leader himself is dejected, and nowhere is seen in the field, who will energise the party for the future?” he added.
