Tej Pratap carries photo of grandmother to file poll papers from Mahua

A day after his younger brother and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav filed his nomination papers from the Raghopur seat in Vaishali district in the presence of his parents, the elder son of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, Tej Pratap Yadav, on Thursday (October 16) filed his election affidavit from the adjoining Mahua Assembly constituency in the same district with a photograph of his grandmother, Marchhayiya Devi, in hand.

Ousted from the party for six years following a controversy, Tej Pratap has floated the Janshakti Janata Dal and has fielded 20 candidates till now for the upcoming Assembly election scheduled to be held on November 6 and 11.

“My grandmother has been my inspiration,” he said.

Mahua is around 50 k.m. away from Raghopur, from where Mr. Yadav is contesting. Besides his parents, Mr. Tejashwi was accompanied by his elder sister Misa Bharti. Sources said that Mr. Tej Pratap had wanted his parents and family members to be present, but with no one accompanying him from the family, he decided to take a photograph of his grandmother with him.

RJD has fielded its sitting MLA Mukesh Kumar Raushan from the Mahua seat against Mr. Tej Pratap.

Mr. Tej Pratap had won the Assembly election from Mahua in 2015, but in 2020 he switched to Hasanpur in the neighboring Samastipur district. “I’m contesting from Mahua this time as I have done development works, and people wanted me,” he had told reporters earlier.

Shah reaches Patna

Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Patna on a three-day visit to strategise for the Bihar election. On Thursday, the BJP released the names of 40 party leaders, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president J. P. Nadda, Mr. Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States, and Bhojpuri film actors like Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, Pawan Singh, as star campaigners for the party in the election.