Misa Bharti and Tejashwi Yadav (File photo)
NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is set to convene a meeting of its national executive in Patna later this week, with key leadership decisions expected to be made.“Yes, the national executive meeting will be held on January 25. Besides Lalu ji, all top leaders are expected to be in attendance. Issues that are deemed important by the leadership may be taken up for discussion,” RJD spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan told PTI, referring to party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav.Yadav, a former Bihar chief minister, has been leading the Rashtriya Janata Dal since forming it in 1997, after he broke away from the erstwhile Janata Dal.Stage set for Tejashwi Yadav vs Misa Bharti?However, while Lalu Yadav’s authority remains unquestioned, sources said that his advancing age and health concerns have prompted discussions on the need for a second line of leadership to manage the organisation’s day-to-day affairs.According to party sources, a decision could therefore be taken to appoint a “working national president.”The leading contender for the post is Tejashwi Yadav, a former deputy CM and the current leader of the opposition in Bihar. He was the RJD’s chief ministerial face in last November’s assembly elections, in which the party’s tally fell sharply to 25 seats from 75 in 2020. Tejashwi is the youngest of the nine children of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, herself an ex-chief minister.Another section of RJD workers are reportedly of the opinion that the post should go to Misa Bharti, the eldest of the nine siblings and the current Lok Sabha MP from Pataliputra. “It is not a question of lack of trust in Tejashwi’s leadership. The fact is, the BJP-led NDA, our rival, has for long been trying to paint the RJD as a patriarchal organisation in which women are denied their due,” a party leader noted.”The outbursts of Rohini Acharya after the poll results have made matters worse. Just look at how all leaders of the BJP and chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) had latched on to the opportunity to accuse Lalu ji of giving a raw deal to his daughters,” he added, referring to a sibling of Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti.Notably, Acharya, who is based in Singapore, had come to Bihar for the poll campaign. She stormed out of her parents’ home two days after results came out alleging that abuses were hurled at her and a slipper was flung to hit her when she questioned the role played by two close aides of Tejashwi, including Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Yadav, in the RJD’s poor show.Another topic of discussion may be the replacement of Mangani Lal Mandal as the RJD’s Bihar unit president. Mandal, a party hopper, was with the JD(U) till a few years ago and his return to the RJD failed to effectively cut into the EBC (extremely backward classes) votes.