Bihar Assembly elections: Tej Pratap Yadav may lock horns with his estranged wife

With Bihar Assembly election now likely to be held as per schedule, all eyes will be on Mahua seat in Vaishali district where Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav may lock horns with his estranged wife Aishwarya Rai who is likely to be a JD(U) candidate.

Though there has been no official announcement about this, her father Chandrika Rai, a former RJD MLA who joined JD(U) a day ago, dropped ample hints of Aishwarya taking the poll plunge.

“First tell me from where is Lalu’s son contesting? Has he found any safe seat?” said Chandrika, on a query whether his daughter is making poll debut against Tej Pratap.

Tej and Aishwarya got married in 2018, which was also seen as coming together of two families who ruled Bihar. Aishwarya’s grandfather Daroga Rai was Chief Minister of Bihar five decades back. Her father Chandrika Rai was a minister in Rabri Devi regime as well in the Nitish Kumar’s short-lived Grand Alliance Government in 2015-17.

However, in less than a year of their marriage, the couple started staying separately after marital discord. Parents of both sides unsuccessfully tried to patch up. Tej and Aishwarya are, however, now fighting a divorce case in the court of law.

Following this episode, Aishwarya left Rabri’s residence and has been staying with her parents. Her father Chandrika stopped attending RJD meet. On August 20, he joined JD (U), a party which may be the launching pad for his daughter Aishwarya.

“Anybody can contest against me... I don’t have any more relationship with her (Aishwarya), so I won’t say much about her. Moreover, the matter (divorce case) is in the court, so I will desist from making any comment about her,” said Tej Pratap, on the prospect of his estranged wife taking him head-on from his Assembly constituency Mahua in Vaishali.