PATNA: A day after RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari’s statement that party chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav dissociated himself from the RJD by floating a new outfit, Congress state working president Dr Ashok Ram met the latter here on Thursday.
The impromptu meeting between Tej Pratap and the Congress leader has set tongues wagging in state’s political circles.
Though Tej Pratap’s close associates tried to downplay the meeting by describing it as a routine affair, political observers feel that it is an indication of the growing differences between the two brothers – Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
The meeting assumed significance in the wake of a rift between the Congress and the RJD over fielding candidates for Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly seats in the bypolls to be held on October 30.
While Ram’s son Atirekh Kumar is the Congress nominee for Kusheshwar Asthan seat, Ganesh Bharti is contesting on the RJD’s symbol.
Ram later claimed that Tej has promised to campaign for his son at Kusheshwar Sthan.
The Congress is an ally of the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance. The RJD is a major partner of the Grand Alliance in Bihar.
Tiwari had said at Hajipur on Wednesday that Tej Pratap had been barred from using the RJD’s poll symbol, lantern, for his new students’ wing, Chhatra Janshakti Parishad.
He had also said Tej Pratap was no longer associated with the RJD. “There is no point taking action against him when he has floated a new outfit,” Tiwari had said.
Tej had earlier got his organisation registered with ‘flute’ as its symbol.
Chief spokesperson of Chhatra Janshakti Parishad, Mohit Sharma, however, said Tej was still in the RJD. “Some people are trying to create a rift in the RJD’s first family by making such statements,” he added.
Meanwhile, parishad’s state president Prashant Pratap Yadav said the organisation’s functionary, Sanjay Kumar, may contest the bypoll from Tarapur as an independent candidate. Kumar is the president of Munger division of the parishad.
Taking a potshot at RJD, JD(U) spokesperson Nikhil Mandal on Thursday tweeted, “Is it true, Baba? Why are you so calm? Tejashwi is also maintaining silence (sic).”
