Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Misa Bharti on Monday confirmed that relations between her brothers Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav have soured, the Hindustan Times reported. There has been speculation for days that there are differences between some in the Yadav family.
“Why talk about others when there are explicit differences among brothers in my own family,” Bharti told party workers in Maner town of Patna district in Bihar. However, she added that “differences exist in every family” just as all five fingers of a hand are not the same.
Bharti also claimed that some forces within her family were trying to stab her in the back. “I am a woman. If the enemy musters courage and wages a war face-to-face, I can become a Rani Laxmibai and fight back,” she said. “But I cannot tolerate someone, whether a worker or a leader, backstabbing me.”
When asked about Bharti’s claims, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said he he had not heard it.
Tej Pratap and Bharti are unhappy that Tejashwi Yadav has become the heir apparent to their father Lalu Prasad Yadav in the party, the Hindustan Times reported. Lalu Prasad Yadav is presently in jail in connection with a fodder scam case. The rift between Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav became more obvious after Tej Pratap Yadav’s wedding in May, the daily said.
However, later on Monday, Bharti attempted to downplay her statements, NDTV reported. “My statement has been twisted,” she said. “I had asked party workers to remain united and forget differences, the comment was not on our family. The family is one, there are no differences between us.”
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