After Being Expelled From RJD, Tej Pratap Yadav Announces Contesting As An Independent In Bihar Elections

After being expelled from his father's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Tej Pratap Yadav is set to contest the upcoming Bihar election as an Independent.

The former Bihar Minister will be contesting from the Mahua seat in Vaishali district. Currently, he serves as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Hasanpur seat in the Samastipur district.

Claiming people's support, he told reporters on Saturday (26 July) evening, "Yes, this time, I will contest the elections from Mahua assembly seat as an Independent candidate. My opponents must have started to feel an itch."

Yadav asserted, "A large number of people are now connected with my ‘Team Tej Pratap Yadav’, a social media platform to reach out to people," claiming that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will not be able to continue.

He added, “I am confident that ‘chacha’ (Nitish) will not become the CM… those who would form the government, if they talk about youths, employment, education, and health, Tej Pratap Yadav will stand with them.”

RJD founder and Tej Pratap's father, Lalu Prasad, ousted him from the party for a period of six years on 25 May, just a day after he allegedly admitted on social media that he was "in a relationship" with a woman named Anushka.

However, he subsequently removed the post from Facebook, alleging that his account had been "hacked". Nonetheless, Lalu Prasad also renounced Tej Pratap because of his "irresponsible behaviour".

Several days following his removal from the party, Tej Pratap claimed that there was a "conspiracy" aimed at causing a rift between him and his younger sibling, Tejashwi Yadav, former Deputy CM of Bihar.

In a few posts on his X handle, he expressed his feelings, attributing the crisis to 'Jaichand', a term used symbolically for betrayers.