Daijiworld Media Network - Patna
Patna, Nov 15: A day after the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) suffered a crushing defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections, the party has been jolted by fresh internal turmoil. Rohini Acharya, daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, announced her decision to “quit politics” and publicly sever ties with her family, sparking intense speculation within political circles.
Acharya, a doctor by profession who now lives in Singapore with her husband, made the dramatic announcement through a cryptic post on her X handle. “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,” she wrote.
Sanjay Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP and one of Tejashwi Yadav’s closest aides, along with Rameez—an old friend of Tejashwi from a politically influential family in Uttar Pradesh—did not respond to requests for comment. Acharya’s post did not clarify what exactly the two had told her, leaving room for political conjecture.
Rohini Acharya, who made headlines earlier for donating a kidney to her father Lalu Prasad, had contested the Lok Sabha elections last year from Saran but failed to secure a win. Rumours have long suggested that she was unhappy with the expulsion of Tej Pratap Yadav, Lalu’s elder son, though she actively campaigned for Tejashwi during the recent assembly polls.
The RJD, once the dominant force in Bihar politics, saw its tally crash from 75 to just 24 seats in the latest elections. The ruling NDA, riding on the combined clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, bulldozed the Mahagathbandhan to secure a thumping “200 paar” victory, bagging nearly three-fourths of the seats in the 243-member assembly.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party, while the NDA’s major constituents—BJP and JD(U)—achieved an impressive 85% strike rate in the 101 seats each they contested.
Acharya’s explosive announcement has added a new layer of crisis for the RJD, already grappling with a sweeping electoral defeat. Political observers say her statement could deepen rifts within the Yadav family and further destabilise the party’s already shaken leadership.