'Dirty kidney to cursed sister': Inside the ugly family feud tearing apart Lalu Yadav's dynasty

The current family rupture has reportedly been years in the making, with repeated friction between Rohini and Tejashwi.

The long-simmering tensions within RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family erupted into full public view this weekend after his daughter Rohini Acharya announced she was quitting politics and “disowning” her family. She alleged humiliation at the hands of her brother, former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, and his close aides.

On Sunday, hours after Rohini’s explosive posts on X kicked off one of Bihar's murkiest political storms, four of Lalu’s other daughters, Ragini, Chanda, Raj Lakshmi and Hema, were seen flying out of Patna and arriving in Delhi. They were later spotted gathering at the Delhi residence of their elder sister and Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Delhi, Rohini reiterated the allegations she had made on the microblogging site, claiming she was verbally abused and threatened during a confrontation following the Mahagathbandhan’s crushing defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections.

Rohini's dramatic break from the RJD was triggered during the party’s post-mortem of its crushing Bihar election defeat, as per an NDTV report. At the closed-door review, tensions between her and her brother, Tejashwi Yadav, exploded.

According to the report that cites sources, Rohini had urged the leadership to address growing protests by party workers against RJD MP Sanjay Yadav. Tejashwi, however, bristled at her suggestion. What followed was an ugly confrontation, with Tejashwi allegedly snapping that the party “lost because of” her and that they were “cursed” by her. He reportedly even hurled a slipper at her and abused her.

By the next morning, Rohini announced she was quitting politics and severing ties with her family. She also publicly named RJD MP Sanjay Yadav and Tejashwi’s longtime friend Rameez Nemat Khan as the men who, she said, drove her out of the party.

“Whatever I had to say, I have said on my social media. I have not lied about anything that happened," she said. “My father has always been by my side. My parents and my sisters were crying for me yesterday. I am blessed to have parents like them.”

Rohini, nevertheless, also remarked that she refuses to “compromise” on her self-respect, adding, “A daughter, a sister, a married woman, a mother was humiliated… abuses were hurled, shoes were raised to kill her. I did not surrender the truth and had to face insults.”

She alleged that when she questioned Sanjay Yadav about the RJD’s poor performance, “I was told to go back to my in-laws’ house.” She added she had “decided to disown” her brother.

Nonetheless, Rohini's elder brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, now heading a splinter outfit, the Janshakti Janta Dal, issued a furious statement backing his sister, saying the “insult” she faced was “unbearable.”

“What happened to me, I tolerated… but the insult my sister faced is absolutely unbearable,” he said. “Ever since I heard that my sister was threatened with a slipper, the hurt in my heart has turned into fire. The consequences of this injustice will be extremely grave.”

In a message addressed to his father, he added, “Father, just give one signal… and the people of Bihar themselves will bury these traitors in the ground.”

Also Check Out | The Yadav family's extensive family tree.

Notably, Sunday’s explosion follows months of visible cracks in the Yadav family.

In September, Rohini had unfollowed the RJD’s and Tejashwi’s official accounts, after a clash with Sanjay Yadav, whom she accused of meddling in party affairs. Tej Pratap too had earlier branded Sanjay a “Jaichand.”

The current family rupture has reportedly been years in the making, with repeated friction between Rohini and Tejashwi.

The strain first surfaced in July 2023, when Tejashwi asked Rohini to contest the Saran Lok Sabha seat, as per sources cited in the NDTV report. She agreed only after Lalu Yadav approved, but made it clear she preferred Pataliputra. That plan triggered opposition from their sister, Misa Bharti. Rohini, just back from Singapore to campaign for the party, reluctantly accepted Saran and eventually lost to the BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

The slide furthered when RJD MP Sanjay Yadav warned that Rohini could emerge as a political threat to Tejashwi. He repeatedly told her, often rudely, to quit politics and return to Singapore.

Not to forget how Rohini had famously donated a kidney to her father in December 2022, an act that Lalu and Tejashwi have repeatedly described as “superhuman.” On Saturday, she accused Tejashwi’s circle of weaponising even that gesture against her. “I was told that I got my father to have my ‘dirty kidney’ transplanted into him,” she wrote on X.

“I pray that none of you ever have to walk my path, and no house should have a daughter-sister like Rohini,” she added in another post.

Adding fuel to the fire, the RJD’s debacle in the Bihar assembly polls early this month, securing just 25 of over 140 seats contested, appears to have flared up the latest blow-up.

In another development, earlier this year, Tej Pratap was also expelled from the family after a personal controversy, further deepening internal strains.

Neither Lalu Prasad Yadav nor Rabri Devi has publicly commented on the meltdown yet. Meanwhile, Sanjay Yadav, asked about Rohini’s charges, said the party remained “united” and claimed her comments were being “misunderstood.”

Tejashwi has so far not commented on the accusations. The RJD, too, has avoided confronting the claims directly.