Bihar poll debacle: Lalu’s daughter Rohini quits politics, ‘disowns’ family

A day after the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan was swept aside in a bruising electoral defeat by the ruling NDA, a fresh tremor rippled through Bihar’s political landscape. Rohini Acharya — daughter of RJD president Lalu Prasad and once seen as a quiet but unwavering pillar of the family — announced that she was stepping away not just from politics, but from her own lineage.

In a cryptic message on X, Rohini wrote: “I am quitting politics and I am disowning my family… This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do, and I am taking all the blame.”

Her words, dropped like stones into already turbulent waters, added a dramatic layer to an election season that had already left the RJD wounded — its seat count plummeting from 75 in 2020 to just 25 this year.

A doctor by training, Rohini had long chosen a quieter life, living in Singapore with her husband and staying largely away from the fray. Yet she had stepped into the political spotlight in recent years — donating a kidney to her father in 2022, contesting the Saran Lok Sabha seat in 2024, and losing to BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy by over 13,600 votes.

The roots of her resignation, however, stretch deeper than electoral loss. For months, whispers of turbulence within the powerful Yadav clan had grown louder. Rohini had unfollowed both her father and brother Tejashwi Yadav on social media — a symbolic act that drew widespread attention. Her discontent, party insiders whispered, had been simmering for a while, sparked partly by the growing influence of Tejashwi’s confidant and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Yadav, and his close associate Rameez.

Rohini’s posts questioning Jha’s prominence during Tejashwi’s Bihar Voter Adhikar Yatra were seen as open dissent. One reposted message argued that the front seat in the yatra bus should have been reserved for Lalu or Tejashwi — not for any other individual. The criticism ignited a public flare-up within the family, prompting Rohini to issue clarifications about her intentions and her commitment to social justice and Dalit representation.

Behind the scenes, her ambitions and frustrations continued to collide. Though she maintained publicly that she did not wish to contest an Assembly seat, RJD insiders said she hoped to influence candidate selection in segments falling under the Saran parliamentary constituency — where she dreamed of returning for a renewed Lok Sabha bid in 2029. Tejashwi and Jha, sources said, pushed back. Lalu chose silence. A silence perhaps louder than words.

Feeling isolated, Rohini left Patna for Singapore, unfollowing nearly every RJD leader. Her announcement on Saturday — to abandon both politics and family — appeared to be the culmination of that long-brewing unrest.

The family has faced fractures elsewhere. Rohini’s eldest brother Tej Pratap Yadav was expelled from the RJD and the Lalu household earlier this year after a controversial social media post hinted at a personal relationship. He went on to launch his own outfit, the Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD), which contested the Assembly polls but failed to win a single seat.

In the aftermath of defeat, therefore, the RJD finds itself not only diminished in the Assembly but bruised within its own heart. And Rohini Acharya — once the daughter who donated a kidney to save her father — now stands at a painful crossroads, her parting words casting a long shadow over Bihar’s political theatre.

With PTI inputs