After the landslide victory of the Grand Alliance, all eyes are on who will lead the Rashtriya Janata Dal Legislature Party (RJDLP). Will it be either of Lalu Prasad’s two sons – Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav – both of whom have made their début this Assembly election? Or could it be Lalu’s old war horse and the most prominent Muslim face of the party, Abdul Bari Siddiqui?
The majority of the 80 newly-elected RJD MLAs, who attended the first formal meeting of the Rashtriya Janata Dal Legislature Party on Friday, preferred not to take sides. It was eventually left to party president Lalu Prasad Yadav to take a decision on who will be the leader of the RJDLP.
Though he may not admit this publicly, Lalu appears to be in a dilemma – whether to choose a credible Muslim face or prop up someone from his community, preferably a young Yadav, as the new leader. And if it has to be a Yadav, why not his son?