RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Battered like in 2010, the RJD is now looking at challenging times, as it was reduced to 25 seats in Bihar this time while failing to check JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar for another time.
RJD managed to bounce back from 22 seats it won in 2010 with Lalu Prasad presiding over the revival, which catapulted the party to 80 seats in 2015, though in alliance with JD(U).
His son Tejashwi Yadav took the reins under the supervision of his father in 2020 when the party managed 75 seats to become the single largest party but now the question is whether Tejashwi can fill in the big shoes as Lalu may not play an active role in the latest edition of rejuvenation with age not on his side.
Tejashwi went to town talking about the JD(U)’s future after the elections, claiming that the BJP will devour it, but now he stares at a daunting task of rebuilding trust with people, who he might be thinking has let him down.
Tejashwi will have to tread cautiously as trouble is brewing in the family, which controls RJD, over the role of his advisor Sanjay Yadav. His elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav left the party while another sister Rohini Acharya too raised a banner of revolt over Sanjay Yadav.
While tackling family feud, Tejashwi will also have to devote time and draw a strategy to boost the morale of the party cadre and supporters, who were expecting a better performance. His immediate challenge will be to ensure that the traditional base of Muslim-Yadav (MY) sticks with RJD.
The results showed that the RJD failed to attract communities other than the MY combo despite the I.N.D.I.A bloc widening its net by including parties like the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), predominantly addressing the concerns of Nishad community, and India Inclusive Party (IIP), a party of the Pans.
RJD also failed to build a narrative against Nitish, who had catapulted to the power corridors of Bihar by taking on Lalu Prasad and RJD. Voters appeared unimpressed by the RJD’s campaign against Nitish’s governance record, as the ‘jungle raj’ moniker stuck to the Lalu regime.
As alliance leader, the RJD did not play the peace-maker’s role and allowed the Opposition narrative to slip through. Alliance partners felt it was playing mind games to deal with seat negotiations even as it irked them by projecting Tejashwi alone without highlighting a united front.
For Tejashwi and the Lalu family, trouble is also waiting in courts as corruption cases are coming up for hearing. He will have to counter the narrative outside courts that people have decisively voted against Lalu’s “jungle raj” and corruption.