MP Sudhakar Singh urges Lalu to reconsider decision to expel Tej Pratap from RJD

Patna: RJD leader and Buxar MP Sudhakar Singh urged party supremo Lalu Prasad to reconsider his decision to expel former state minister Tej Pratap Yadav from the party over his alleged relationship with another woman.

Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of Lalu Prasad, had on May 24 announced on social media that he had been in a "relationship for 12 years" with a woman, despite him being married and later his divorce petition being pending before a court here.

He, however, deleted the post a few hours later, claiming that his social media page was "hacked". The next day, Lalu Prasad expelled him from the party.

Coming out in support of Tej Pratap, Sudhakar Singh, told reporters, "Solemnising another marriage is not a crime in Hinduism. It's entirely a personal matter. I must say that the tradition of having two marriages in India is not new."

"Visionary socialist thinker and political leader Ram Manohar Lohia, in his book on 'Saptkranti' (seven revolutions), had categorically written that all relationships between a man and a woman are valid, barring rape and deceit. We are the followers of Lohia ji... I personally feel that party supremo should reconsider his decision about Tej Pratap," the MP said.

"We have seen and heard about past instances of multiple marriages by a man. There are several examples... look at Chirag Paswan, he is also born to the second wife of his father. Such instances have been common in society," Singh said.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad had on May 25 expelled Tej Pratap Yadav from the party and snapped all family ties with him, stating that his actions were "irresponsible" and not in accordance with public conduct.

Prasad, who announced his drastic move on social media, made no mention of the previous day's happenings, but criticised his elder son's actions, public conduct and "irresponsible behaviour", saying "disregard for moral values in personal life weakens our collective struggle to achieve social justice".

Breaking his silence over his expulsion from the RJD, Tej Pratap Yadav on Sunday alleged that there was a "conspiracy" to drive a wedge between him and his younger brother Tejashwi Yadav.

The former Bihar minister voiced his sentiments in a couple of posts on his X handle, blaming the crisis on 'Jaichand', a metaphor for traitors.

Using the Mahabharata imagery, which he has been employing to describe his relationship with his far more successful younger brother, Yadav wrote, "Those dreaming of a rift between me and Arjun will never succeed in their conspiracy. They can win over the military of Krishna, but can't capture Krishna himself. I will soon expose every such conspiracy."

Without mentioning Tejashwi Yadav by name, he added, "My brother, I would ask you to have faith that I am with you in all circumstances. My blessings were with you and will be so always. Please take care of mummy and papa, Jaichand is outside as well as within."

Yadav's Facebook post, in which he confessed to being in a relationship with a woman named Anushka, had created a huge controversy and his estranged wife Aishwarya alleged before the media that her in-laws had "ruined" her life by getting her married to him despite him being in a relationship with another woman much before their wedding in 2018.