Is Bihar Angry With RJD? Deciphering Election Mandate & Link With Lalu Yadav’s ‘Very Large’ Family

Last Updated:November 14, 2025, 14:36 IST

In the 2025 Assembly elections, the NDA crossed 200 seats, while the RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan shrank to just 37.

Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi have nine children. (Photo: PTI)

For nearly four decades, the political landscape of Bihar has been shaped, sometimes shaken, by one family. The Yadavs have been an empire, sprawling, loud, unfiltered, and forever in the headlines. Now in 2025, as Bihar voted in record numbers and delivered a stinging verdict, the once-invincible family tree of Lalu Prasad Yadav stood rattled.

Lalu Prasad Yadav, born in Gopalganj, rose from student politics to become one of India’s most colourful, controversial, and charismatic leaders. In 1973, he married Rabri Devi, and together they built a home and a full-blown political dynasty. They have nine children: seven daughters, two sons, each carrying a slice of Lalu’s legacy, some willingly, some reluctantly, and all under the public eye.

Lalu Yadav’s Family Tree

Misa Bharti – The Eldest

A doctor by training, Misa became the first daughter to step into the political arena. A Rajya Sabha member, she has frequently been in the spotlight, especially due to her involvement in the ongoing “land-for-jobs" investigation. Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI have questioned her multiple times, and she has been named in the ED’s first chargesheet related to the case.

Ragini, Chanda, Rajlakshmi – The Political Marriages

These daughters married into power circles: a Samajwadi Party leader, a pilot, and a member of the extended Mulayam Singh Yadav family. Their lives remained mostly outside Bihar’s stormy political theatre.

Rohini Acharya

Rohini Acharya is often viewed as the emotional core of the Yadav family. Based in Singapore, she became known after donating a kidney to her ailing father in December 2022. On social media, she became the family’s defender-in-chief, often locking horns with critics and even her own siblings.

The Quiet Daughters

Bharti, Chhaya, and Hema, the lesser-known youngest daughter live away from the spotlight.

Tej Pratap Yadav – The Rebel Prince

Once projected as Lalu’s flamboyant heir, Tej Pratap’s fall has been as dramatic as his rise. From ministerial posts to public meltdowns, from turbulent relationships to theatrical press moments, he drifted away from the family until 2025, when the break became final. He was expelled from the party for six years and disowned from the family. In the 2025 election, pushed to third place in Mahua, as per the Election Commission.

Tejashwi Yadav – The Chosen Successor

Tejashwi is the younger son, the one Lalu called his “political aashirvaad". He rose fast: Deputy Chief Minister, Opposition leader, and the face of the 2025 campaign. But even he could not escape the wave of anger in 2025. In Raghopur, the family’s fortress, he was forced into a tight race he was expected to win effortlessly. Every round of counting told the same story: Bihar was no longer voting out of loyalty to the Yadav name.

The 2025 Verdict

Lalu’s political ascent peaked when he became Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 as a Janata Dal leader. His second term was consumed by the infamous fodder scam, a corruption scandal that led him to resign and install his wife Rabri Devi as Chief Minister in his place. In 1997 he split from the Janata Dal to form the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Rabri Devi was CM for seven years until JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar took office in 2005.

In 2025, Bihar’s anger towards the Yadavs was no longer quiet; it was visible in turnout numbers, in constituency murmurs, in the results flashing on counting day. In the Bihar Assembly elections, NDA crossed 200 seats, while the RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan, managed to secure only 37.

A comment on social media platform X read, “Imagine the damage Lalu Yadav has done to Bihar that even after 20 years of anti incumbency, people are coming out in huge numbers and vote for Nitish Kumar just to prevent Lalu & sons returns."

“Lalu Yadav is 77 years old. This is the end of RJD. It’s so satisfying that he is alive to see the end of what he started. He destroyed Bihar and now Biharis are destroying him," another comment read.

Why Bihar Turned Away From The Yadavs

Corruption Fatigue – The fodder scam, the IRCTC case, the land-for-jobs scandal, the list became too long, too often updated. For voters, the family name became synonymous with allegations, court dates, and moral fog.

Endless Family Drama – Instead of governance, the Yadav narrative became a soap opera: brothers at war, sisters arguing online, parents stepping in like referees. The expulsion of Tej Pratap was the final straw for many who saw the family as unstable and self-involved.

Dynastic Overload – Bihar’s youth wanted jobs, not surnames. In a state where almost every election depended on caste arithmetic, the idea that one family should dominate began to feel antiquated. Aspirational voters rejected dynasty politics outright.

A Sense of Moral Decline – Lalu publicly talked about “moral values" while expelling his own son. With scandals, internal fights, and messy personal revelations surfacing regularly, the family’s moral authority evaporated.

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