Lalu expels elder son Tej Pratap from RJD, family
RJD patron Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday expelled his elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, from the family and the party for six years on the grounds of “ignoring moral values” in personal life.
Tej Pratap had on Saturday announced on social media that he was “in a relationship for 12 years" with a woman, despite being married and his divorce petition still pending before a family court here. He later deleted the post and claimed on X that his Facebook page was “hacked".
Though the RJD patron made no mention of the Saturday’s happenings while announcing his decision, he said his elder son’s behaviour did not align with the family’s values.
“Ignoring moral values in personal life weakens our collective struggle for social justice. The activities, public conduct and irresponsible behaviour of the elder son are not in accordance with our family values and traditions. Therefore, due to the above circumstances, I remove him from the party and family. From now on, he will not have any role of any kind in the party and family. He is expelled from the party for six years,” Lalu said in a post on X.
Tej Pratap married former Bihar minister Chandrika Rai’s daughter Aishwarya in 2018. However, both separated a few months later. Tej Pratap’s admission that “he was already in a relationship" before marriage in the now-deleted Facebook post drew widespread criticism and went viral.
“I am Tej Pratap Yadav and the girl who is seen with me in this picture is Anushka Yadav. We both have known each other for the past 12 years and love each other deeply…,” the deleted post read.
Though Tej Pratap later took to X stating that the pictures were edited and his social media platform was hacked, the damage had been done.
In a guarded response, Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu’s younger son and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, said: “My elder brother is an adult. He is free to make any choice in his personal life. But there are certain things we cannot tolerate. And this is what our national president has asserted in his post."
India