Rohini Acharya, daughter of RJD president Lalu Prasad, announced her exit from politics a day after the party’s disappointing performance in the Bihar assembly polls. In a cryptic message on her X account, Acharya, a qualified doctor who currently lives as a homemaker in Singapore with her husband, stated, “I am quitting politics and I am disowning my family… This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do…and I am taking all the blame.”
Sanjay Yadav is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from the RJD and is considered a close aide to Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad’s son and the party’s presumed successor. Rameez, described as a friend of Tejashwi from a political family in Uttar Pradesh, is also referenced in Acharya’s post. However, the specifics of what Yadav and Rameez communicated to her remain unclear, and both were not available for comment, according to PTI.
Acharya previously gained attention for donating a kidney to her father years ago and made an unsuccessful bid for the Lok Sabha from Saran in the previous elections. Speculation suggests she was dissatisfied with the expulsion of her brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, from the party earlier this year. Despite this, she campaigned for Tejashwi during the assembly elections.
The RJD suffered a significant decline in its seat count, dropping from 75 to 24 in the recent assembly polls. Tej Pratap Yadav was expelled from the party and his family earlier this year due to controversies surrounding his personal life, particularly after a Facebook post claimed a longstanding relationship with Anushka Yadav, rekindling discussions about his marital issues, including a divorce case with Aishwarya Rai, granddaughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Daroga Rai.
Following his expulsion, Tej Pratap launched his own political party, the Janshakti Janta Dal (JJD), and contested in the Mahua Assembly constituency but finished third, with Lok Janshakti Party candidate Sanjay Kumar Singh winning decisively by a margin of 44,997 votes.
The rift within Lalu Yadav’s family has deepened, especially with Rohini’s decision to distance herself, paralleling her brother’s earlier actions.
(With inputs from agencies)
