Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav on Thursday asserted that his eldest sister Misa Bharti will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019 from Bihar’s Pataliputra.
Tej Pratap while speaking at his Janta Darbar said, he would start campaigning for his sister in Pataliputra from Today itself even as the party has yet to release any official Confirmation.
There were many reports about RJD Spokesperson and Tejashwi’s close aide Bhai Virendra expressing his desire to contest from the seat. Speaking about the same Tej Pratap said, “The people of Pataliputra want ‘Misa Didi’ to contest from the seat. Voters cast their votes in the name of Lalu Prasad. Neither Bhai Virendra nor I can do anything about it.”
The Pataliputra seat that came into existence after 2008 delimitation is seen as a prestige issue for the “first family” of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as both Lalu Prasad and his daughter Misa Bharti have unsuccessfully contested from there.
RJD Chief Prasad had lost the Pataliputra set to Ranjan Yadav in 2009, while Misa Bharti lost the seat to Ram Kripal in 2014.
Tej Pratap’s statement came in the amid speculations about the rift within the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi family over the growing clout of their younger son Tejashwi Yadav.
However, both Tej Pratap and Misa Bharti, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member, have repeatedly denied reports of any such rift within the family.
Tej Pratap and Tejashwi both made their debut electoral field simultaneously in the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar. While Tej Pratap was given a Cabinet berth, Tejashwi was appointed as the deputy chief minister.
Later, When RJD lost to power after JD(U) quit the alliance Tejashwi was made the leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly.
ALSO READ: Jharkhand High Court reserves judgment on bail Plea filed by Lalu Yadav in Fodder Scam Cases