With the controversy surrounding the RJD’s first family gaining steam ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, the ruling JD(U) on Sunday took a jibe at its former ally, mocking the “new-found conscience” of former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Lalu Prasad expelled his elder son Tej Prasad Yadav from the party for “ignoring moral values” after the latter shared his photo with a woman on Facebook and claimed they had been in a relationship for the last 12 years.
"This is a matter of Lalu Prasad Yadav's family. When the granddaughter of Bihar's famous politician Daroga Prasad Rai was thrown out of the house, did your (Lalu Yadav's) culture not awaken, and today your conscience has awakened?,” JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar asked, referring to Tej’s marriage in 2018.
Within a few months of the marriage, Aishwarya had left his house, alleging that she was driven out by her husband and in-laws.
Calling Tej’s expulsion as a political spectacle, Neeraj said "Tejashwi Yadav says that Tej Pratap Yadav is our elder brother. What kind of cat-and-mouse game is this?".
Meanwhile, another JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi took a dig at Tej, saying one cannot be ethical in politics if he is immoral in is private life.
"In public life, if you are immoral in your private life, you cannot be ethical in politics - this is the result of that. First, Bihar was ruined; now the family is being ruined. In politics, people's private and public lives are not separate,” he said.
READ: ‘We can’t tolerate such things’: Tejashwi, Rohini defend brother Tej Pratap’s expulsion from RJD
The controversy started on Saturday when a photo of Tej with a woman was shared on his Facebook page. The post identified the woman as Anushka Yadav and that the duo were in a relationship for 12 years.
"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 last 12 years and love each other deeply. We have been in a relationship throughout these years,” said the now-deleted post.
The post drew a social media backlash with many questioning why he married Aishwarya in 2018 if he had already been in a relationship.