Awkward Airport Reunion: Tej Pratap And Tejashwi’s Yadav Tense Face-Off Before Bihar Polls Sparks Viral Buzz

The Bihar election season is filled with high stakes, however, it has also raised the ugly specter of a serious estrangement between Lalu Prasad’s two sons, Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav. Their political destinies began to split months ago, with Tejashwi being in the forefront of the Mahagathbandhan while Tej Pratap heads his own party-Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD). A recent awkward encounter at Patna airport was yet another testimony to the distance between the two brothers.

Once political allies, the brothers were reported to cross paths in public tense with unspoken tension that went viral on social media. Neither greeted the other; the somber silence proved a strong visual metaphor for the broken political inheritance of the Yadav family.

In the midst of unbridled campaigning, this public non-meeting brings to light that the battle for Bihar is not merely a battle of ideologies but a war of gargantuan personal stakes, a family feud poised to splinter its core votebase.

Mahua vs. Raghopur: The Electoral Tussle

The political ramifications of their personal rift are most palpable in their respective constituencies. Tejashwi recently campaigned in Mahua against his elder brother, supporting RJD’s official candidate in an action that drew Tej Pratap’s very public rebuke.

His elder brother returned fire with the incendiary “child’s rattle” slur, undermining Tejashwi’s maturity and further threatening to enter the fray in his younger brother’s bastion of Raghopur.

Such back-and-forth campaigning is a clear threat to the RJD’s hegemony since Tej Pratap’s entry into the contest, especially in Mahua, where he had won in 2015, would split crucial Yadav and RJD loyalist votes. The Mahua tussle has thus become a microcosm of the bigger struggle: legitimacy of RJD leadership under Tejashwi versus the claim of the elder brother.

Family Inheritance: Split in Core Vote

The rift within the family has manifested itself as a division within the traditional vote bank of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in India. The primary lend-a-hand to Tej Pratap’s Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) is from a section of traditional RJD voters who either owe allegiance to the elder son or who feel disaffected with Tejashwi’s leadership.

Such vote fragmentation plays against Mahagathbandhan’s chances of forming government since it is certain to shift several constituency advantages to NDA candidates. This possible political collision due to sibling cold war may prove to be the unpredictable variable in the electoral calculus in a few key seats.

The end result will not only determine the next government in Bihar but will also settle the question of who stands to inherit the political legacy of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

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