Patna, Oct 21, 2016, (PTI) : Tejaswi Yadav, Bihar'S Deputy Chief Minister and son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, may have just become one of the most sought after bachelors among politicians, with nearly 44,000 marriage proposals flooding his WhatsApp folder in the last three months.

It all began when the cricketer-turned-politician, who holds the Road Construction Department (RCD) portfolio, launched a helpline number--9470001346--inviting complaints from the public about the condition of roads. He wanted people to send photographs of bad roads so those could be repaired.

However, apart from complaints and photographs of potholed and fractured roads, what the 26-year-old received on WhatsApp were snaps of girls with elaborate details of their physical appearance, including vital statistics and complexion, attached.

RCD officials, who did not wish to be identified, said of the 47,000 odd messages he received, nearly 44,000 were marriage proposals and only around 3000 related to the poor condition of roads about which his inimitable father had once famously said he would make them as smooth as actor Hema Malini's cheeks.

However, the girls who made the proposals would be left heartbroken as Tejaswi, the younger of the two sons of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, made it clear that he, like an obedient son, would abide by his parents' decision and go for an arranged marriage.

"It is our 'sanskar and Bhartiya sanskriti' (culture) that such things (marriages) are decided by our parents...I am happy that people are giving me so much love and affection," he told reporters while emerging from a cabinet meeting. He jokingly asked the reporters present to "leave him alone" as those who they "go after" fail to tie the knot.

"Jin, jin actors ya Rahul Gandhi ke peeche aap log par jaate hain, unki shaadi nahi hoti. Hamein chhod deejiye. (Be it actors or (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi, whoever you go after, fail to get married).

An RCD official, who monitors the WhatsApp messages during his shift, said," Initially, the department received a lot of complaints relating to bad roads, but soon we started getting personal messages from girls with marriage proposals. Probably, they though it was the Minister's personal number."

He said, besides Bihar, the messages poured in from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and other states, with many girls mentioning personal details like age, gotra, complexion, and annexing their photographs.