PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad’s elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, has floated a new political outfit, Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD), just months ahead of the assembly elections in Bihar.
Tej Pratap, a suspended MLA from Hasanpur in Samastipur district, visited the office of Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer on Monday and held talks with senior officials for about half an hour regarding the party’s registration.
Sources said Tej Pratap’s close aide, Balendra Das, had formed the JJD in 2024 and contested the Lok Sabha election on the party’s symbol — the basuri (flute). Tej Pratap is expected to contest the upcoming assembly election on the JJD symbol. While Das was the president, Prashant Pratap was appointed national general secretary.
Authoritative sources confirmed that the JJD has now been formally registered by the Election Commission. “Tej Pratap will formally make an official announcement in this regard soon,” said a close aide of the former state health minister. He also claimed that the JJD has been registered in Tej Pratap’s name.
After stepping out of the CEO’s office, Tej Pratap told reporters he had raised the issue of several electors’ names being deleted from Mahua constituency rolls. He, however, avoided questions on the formation of a new party in his name.
On July 26, Tej Pratap announced that he would contest from his old constituency, Mahua in Vaishali district. At present, he represents Hasanpur in Samastipur, while Mukesh Raushan is the sitting MLA from Mahua.
Tej Pratap was expelled from the RJD after he revealed on social media that he had been in a 12-year live-in relationship with a woman. RJD chief Lalu Prasad expelled him both from the party and the family, announcing the decision publicly on May 25.
Recently, Tej Pratap forged an alliance with five political parties and expressed confidence that the grouping would perform well in the upcoming elections.