Rohini Acharya, daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav announced that she was quitting politics on Saturday (November 15, 2025), a day after the RJD-led Opposition alliance was crushed in the Bihar Assembly election.
In a cryptic post on X, Ms. Acharya said she was disowning her family as well. “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,” said Ms. Acharya, who is settled in Singapore.
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Yadav is a political advisor and close aide to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Ms. Acharya’s brother and the heir apparent to their father’s political legacy. Rameez Nemat Khan is said to be an old friend of Mr. Tejashwi Yadav who hails from a political family in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. RJD sources said that he was looking after Mr. Tejashwi Yadav’s poll campaign and his daily routine, under the guidance of Mr. Sanjay Yadav.
It was not clear from Ms. Acharya’s post what exactly Mr. Sanjay Yadav and Mr. Khan had said to her, but this is not the first time she has ignited a feud in the family.
At Patna airport when media asked her about her cryptic post this evening, Ms. Acharya said, “I have no family and you can go and ask this to Sanjay Yadav, Rameez, and Tejashwi Yadav. They are the ones who threw me out of the family. They do not want to take any responsibility.The whole nation is asking why the party failed like this. When you name Sanjay Yadav and Rameez, you are thrown out of the house, disgraced, abused, and even hit with slippers.”
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Expanding influence
Weeks before the Assembly election, Ms. Acharya, who had donated her kidney to her father in 2022, had expressed her disappointment over Mr. Sanjay Yadav’s expanding influence in the party and his proximity to her brother.
On September 18, Ms. Acharya had shared the Facebook post of a social media influencer who had objected to Mr. Sanjay Yadav occupying the front seat of the campaign bus during the Bihar Adhikar Yatra, noting that the spot is usually reserved for the party’s top leadership.
A day later, Ms. Acharya shared one of her old posts originally written when she was being taken to the operation theatre in Singapore to donate the kidney for her father, saying, “I have fulfilled my duty and righteousness as a daughter and sister, and I will continue to do so in the future as well. I have no craving for any position, nor do I have any political ambitions. For me, my self-respect is paramount.”
The feud became uglier on September 20, when Ms. Acharya unfollowed all the top leaders of the party on X including her father Lalu Prasad Yadav, brothers Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav, and her eldest sister Misa Bharti.
Denied a ticket
There was also speculation in the run-up to the Assembly election that Ms. Acharya had wanted to contest a seat, but faced opposition from Mr. Tejashwi Yadav. Ms. Acharya was reportedly under the impression that Mr. Sanjay Yadav had played a role in denying her an Assembly ticket after she lost the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Saran seat.
In another post, however, she had clarified that she had no desire to become a candidate in the Assembly election, nor to make anyone else a candidate, nor does she aspire to become a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav, who was expelled from the party and estranged from his family earlier this year, had also termed Mr. Sanjay Yadav, who hails from Haryana, as Jaichand (betrayer).
NDA response
Reacting to the episode, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State chief Dilip Kumar Jaiswal said, “She has donated her kidney and due to one or two people, Lalu ji’s family is getting shattered. If the family is getting divided and shattered because of one man, then it is not good. The family should be united, not divided.”
Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar also said that it was very disappointing to see that the daughter who donated her kidney to her father is quitting politics as well as her family. He asked the RJD chief to intervene immediately and not to act like Dhritarashtra, father of the Kauravas in the Mahabharata.
Published – November 15, 2025 04:44 pm IST