Struggling to find foothold in Bihar politics, Tej Pratap seeks PK’s counsel

Tej Pratap Yadav met strategist Prashant Kishor in Bihar to discuss state politics and public expectations after his RJD exit. The meeting, shared online, hints at possible political realignments, though Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party remains opposed to alliances

Patna: Janshakti Janata Dal president Tej Pratap Yadav, who is struggling to find a toehold in the politics of Bihar upon expulsion from the RJD, has sought the guidance of celebrated former political strategist Prashant Kishor.

Yadav called on Kishor, the founder of Jan Suraaj Party, who is currently touring the state, at an undisclosed location late Tuesday night, and shared a short video clip of the meeting on social media.

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The former Bihar minister wrote that he viewed as “quite significant” the “in-depth discussion” with Kishor on “politics of the state”.

“We talked extensively about the expectations of the people and the changing political equations. This meeting… involved deliberations on several issues that could shape the direction of politics in the times to come,” said Yadav, whose party had drawn a blank in the assembly polls held in November last year.

Yadav, who is the elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, himself finished third and barely escaped losing his deposit in Mahua, the assembly segment in Vaishali district from where he had made a successful debut a decade ago.

His younger brother Tejashwi, who was recently appointed as the RJD’s national working president, had made a hat-trick in the adjacent Raghopur seat.

“I, Tej Pratap Yadav, view this dialogue as a significant experience in my political life, where my resolve to move forward with a positive mindset and the spirit of public service has grown even stronger,” added the mercurial leader, who tagged leaders as diverse as his younger brother, besides Rahul Gandhi and Samrat Choudhary, who last week became Bihar’s first CM from the BJP.

Leaders of the ruling NDA and the opposition Mahagathbandhan did not wish to comment on the meeting, though some of them, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that if Yadav and Kishor formed an alliance, it could emerge as the proverbial “third front” in the state.

However, Kishor, 48, has been maintaining that he did not wish Jan Suraaj Party to have a truck with any other party, which aimed at “providing Bihar with a political alternative”.

Nonetheless, in the numerous interviews that he gave to media outlets during the assembly polls, in which the Jan Suraaj Party incidentally failed to make a mark, Kishor had been hinting that his views about Tej Pratap Yadav were less uncharitable than about Tejashwi and Samrat Choudhary.

“Tej Pratap Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Samrat Choudhary all owe their rise in politics to the fact that they were born to political leaders of repute. But, unlike the other two, Tej Pratap Yadav comes across as more transparent,” Kishor had said.

Choudhary, who, along with Tejashwi, gets attacked by Kishor regularly for lacking a good educational qualification, is the son of Shakuni Choudhary and Parvati Devi, both former MPs.