Striving for party only criteria to get Assembly tickets, Lalu Prasad tells RJD workers

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad on Thursday (June 19, 2025) promised party workers and leaders that those working hard for the party with honesty would be made candidates in the coming Bihar Assembly elections.

His son and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav also said party leaders must focus on the ground instead of making rounds in Patna to get Assembly ticket.

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The occasion was the State council meeting of the RJD in Patna’s Gyan Bhavan where veteran socialist leader Mangani Lal Mandal was officially elected new State president.

“Hardly any time is left for the Assembly election in Bihar; do not wait any more and jump into the election. Those who are working hard for the party, I will ensure that they are made the candidates to contest Assembly elections,” Mr. Prasad said.

Most of the senior leaders of the party were present, including his wife Rabri Devi, national vice-president Uday Narayan Choudhary, national principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Lok Sabha member Misa Bharti, Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Yadav and others.

Mr. Prasad asserted, “People have to take pledge to throw out RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] and Nitish Kumar to make Tejashwi Yadav Chief Minister of Bihar. There would be people who may criticise Tejashwi but do not listen to them and ensure that at any cost Tejashwi becomes Chief Minister.”

Praising his son, Mr. Prasad said he had been continuously working to unite the party and taking along all sections of people.

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“On July 5, the RJD will complete 28 years of its formation. It is the duty of every party worker to make the RJD stronger. Go to the field, respect and ensure that RJD leaves a mark in everyone’s heart,” Mr. Prasad said.

He also congratulated Mr. Mandal, who has replaced Jagdanand Singh who served the post for two terms, as State president of the party.

The RJD had State presidents from Scheduled Caste, Muslims, Backward Class and forward class in the past but for the first time the party has made a State president from the EBC community.

“Leave the ticket-related issues to the party supremo, he will take care of it,” Mr. Yadav said.

The former Deputy Chief Minister also slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, reiterating that he was no longer bothered about the people of Bihar and only thinks about his chair.

Ms. Devi, without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took a dig at him on the issue of dynasty politics.

“People who live alone talk about nepotism. One who lives alone does not know about family. Whatever Tejashwi has decided, we are with him. The whole Bihar family is ours. Let people abuse us, we all must stay united. The media does not see the negative work of the present government, when something used to happen in our regime, the media used to show it for a month. However, when Lalu ji and Tejashwi eat Sattu (gram powder), people make fun of them,” Ms. Devi said.