PATNA: In indications that yet another member of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family is set to join politics, photographs of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav’s wife Aishwarya Rai were seen on several banners put up by the party on Wednesday.
With RJD leaders and workers across Bihar getting ready to observe the party’s 22nd foundation day on Thursday, the appearance of Aishwarya’s photographs on a number of banners added an extra layer of liveliness to the preparations. Tej Pratap and Aishwarya got married at a glittering ceremony in Patna on May 18.
Pictures of a smiling Aishwarya were seen along with those of Tej Pratap’s mother, former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, and his eldest sister, Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti, in the banners put up outside Lalu-Rabri’s 10, Circular Road residence and the party’s state headquarters on Birchand Patel Marg.
Aishwarya Rai, 25, is the elder daughter of six-term MLA and former minister Chandrika Rai, who is the son of former Bihar chief minister Daroga Prasad Rai. While Tej Pratap, a first-time MLA who served as Bihar’s health minister for 20 months, studied only up to class XII, Aishwarya completed her graduation from Miranda House College in Delhi and then got an MBA degree from Amity University, Noida.
“The Yadav family is keen to introduce Aishwarya to politics and chose the party’s foundation day eve to indirectly introduce her to the public. She has the blessings of the party chief and will succeed in politics,” said a senior RJD leader close to the Yadav household.
When she joins politics, Aishwarya will be the sixth member of the RJD chief’s family, along with him, to do so. The party has already decided to project Lalu’s younger son Tejashwi Yadav, currently leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, as the grand alliance’s chief ministerial candidate in the 2020 Assembly polls.
This foundation day of RJD is going to be the first one to be observed without the party’s founder-president Lalu Prasad Yadav being present with the workers. The 70-year-old leader, who has been sentenced to over 27 years in jail in fodder scam cases, is currently recuperating at a Mumbai hospital after a surgery.
While Aishwarya’s photographs on the banners sparked speculations about her entry into politics, a fresh controversy erupted over her husband’s name missing in the invitation letter for the party’s 22nd foundation day.
Tej Pratap himself explained it away, saying he would attend the events to mark the foundation day. “All the leaders’ names cannot be added in the invitation letter. I will attend the programmes. My aim is to make Tejashwi the king, and I will rest only after it happens,” he said.