Patna: Speculation is rife in Bihar’s political circles about the possibility of a sixth member of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-Rabri Devi clan jumping into the electoral fray. Rohini Acharya, the power couple’s second eldest daughter, is likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Saran — a seat represented by her father and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav from 2009 until 2014 and Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since.
The buzz around Rohini’s political debut was set off by a Facebook post by RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh. Seen as a close confidant of the family, Singh in his post demanded a ticket for Rohini to contest the elections. “I have reflected the strong sentiments of RJD workers in Saran. No other candidate will be acceptable to the workers,” he wrote, praising Rohini.
Asked about Rohini’s likely candidature, another confidant of the family told ThePrint that he was not concerned with ticket distribution, “but I do not rule it out”.
Reacting to Singh’s post, Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary whipped up a controversy Friday with his statement suggesting that Rohini Acharya could get a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls because she donated a kidney to her father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. “Lalu ji gives tickets only after receiving donations and did not spare even his daughter,” he was quoted as saying by various media outlets.
As for Rohini’s likely candidature, one could also argue that her entry into politics was heralded by none other than her father and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav at the Jan Vishwas Rally held at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on 3 March and addressed by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders. While Rohini did not address the public meeting, Lalu sought blessings for her from the crowd, telling them, “She is my second daughter who has given me a second life by donating her kidney.”
“During the last two days, there has been a flow of Saran MLAs, mukhiyas (village heads) and other leaders from the Lok Sabha to 10, Circular Road (Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence), all of them demanding that Rohini Acharya be made the RJD candidate from the Lok Sabha seat. But until the list of candidates is officially declared I will not be able either to confirm or deny the news,” said RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav.
Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, both Saran and Pataliputra were once seen as bastions of the RJD. Saran, for instance, elected Lalu to the Lok Sabha in 2009, but slipped out of the RJD’s reach in 2014 and 2019. The party fielded Rabri Devi from this seat in 2014 and Chandrika Rai, estranged father-in-law of Lalu and Rabri’s eldest son Tej Pratap, in 2019.
Pataliputra, meanwhile, is the seat Lalu Prasad Yadav unsuccessfully contested in 2009 and his daughter Misa Bharti in 2014 and 2019. Sources in the RJD told ThePrint that Lalu Thursday made it clear to two RJD MLAs — Bhai Virendra and Ritlal Yadav — that his eldest daughter Misa Bharti would contest the Pataliputra seat a third time.
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Rohini Acharya vs Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran?
The second eldest daughter of the RJD first family, Rohini uses the surname Acharya as a mark of respect for one Dr Kamala Acharya who oversaw her birth. Like her elder sister Misa Bharti, Rohini too is a doctor. She is married to Samresh Singh, a Singapore-based computer engineer who is now a business owner.
Though Rohini has not contested an election as of yet, she has been active on social media where she has on occasion defended her father and criticised his political adversaries. After CM Nitish Kumar ditched the RJD to return to the BJP-led NDA in January this year, Rohini wrote in a post on X without taking any names, “Garbage goes back into the dustbin.”
Even when Nitish’s Janta Dal (United) was part of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and the INDIA bloc, Rohini had criticised the chief minister for his attack on dynastic politics in a post on X which she later deleted, only after it had already stirred a controversy.
If she does secure a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Saran, Rohini Acharya will be up against the sitting MP from this seat Rajiv Pratap Rudy. “At the end of the day, they (Lalu and Rabri’s children) are not politicians, There is an effort to play the emotional card; they have done it before,” Rudy told ThePrint when asked to comment on the possibility of Rohini Acharya challenging his claim to the Saran parliamentary seat.
The fight in Saran, say political analysts, has always been a fight between Yadavs and Rajputs who are about the same in numbers in that seat.
If the RJD fields her, Rohini will become the fourth of Lalu and Rabri’s nine children to have jumped into the electoral fray. While her elder sister Misa is a Rajya Sabha MP, her brothers Tejashwi and Tej Pratap have been MLAs since 2015. Extended members of the family including Lalu’s brothers-in-law Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav have also served as MPs.
Asked if this lends currency to criticism of the RJD for being a family-run party, party leader Sunil Kumar Singh told ThePrint, “Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary is son of leader Shakuni Choudhary, Even the father of Vijay Kumar Sinha, the other deputy CM, was an MLA. How can we be held guilty for enforcing dynasty rule when everybody is elected by the people?”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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