In a dramatic development that has sent shockwaves through Bihar's political landscape, Rohini Acharya, daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav, announced on Saturday that she is quitting politics and severing ties with her family. The announcement comes just a day after the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), led by her father's party, suffered a catastrophic defeat in the 2025 Bihar assembly elections.
The decision, posted by Acharya on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), points to intense internal friction and a culture of blame within the Yadav family and the RJD following the electoral rout.
"I’m quitting politics and I’m disowning my family... This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do ...and I'm taking all the blame," she wrote in her post.
A Scapegoat for Electoral Failure?
According to sources within the party, Acharya was being singled out and held responsible for the party's poor performance at the polls. Her involvement in the high-stakes campaign was notably limited. Despite being called from her home in Singapore to participate, her campaigning was reportedly restricted only to the Raghopur constituency, where her brother and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was contesting.
This narrow scope of involvement makes her public designation as a primary reason for the alliance's statewide collapse all the more striking, suggesting she has become a scapegoat for a much broader strategic failure.
Deepening Cracks in the Yadav Parivar
Rohini Acharya's decision has thrown a glaring spotlight on the deepening feud within the first family of Bihar's opposition politics. This is not the first public rupture in the Yadav clan.
Earlier, Lalu Prasad Yadav had expelled his elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, from the party and publicly severed all family ties with him, citing "irresponsible behaviour." Tej Pratap, who denied the allegations, went on to form the Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) and fielded candidates in 22 seats for this election.
However, the JJD failed to win a single seat, mirroring the broader defeat of the opposition. The RJD itself, which emerged as the single largest party in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections, was decimated, winning only 25 seats. The entire Mahagathbandhan, including Congress and Left parties, managed to secure just 34 seats in the 243-member assembly.
NDA Sweeps, Jan Suraaj Fizzles
The election was a resounding victory for the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which cruised past the 200-seat mark. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 89 seats, while Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) secured 85. Their allies, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, won 19, five, and four seats respectively.
In another significant takeaway, Prashant Kishor’s much-hyped Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), which many had dubbed as a potential 'X factor,' failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat.
Rohini Acharya's exit is more than a personal decision; it is a symbol of a political empire in crisis. As the NDA consolidates its power in Bihar, the RJD is left to grapple not just with a humiliating electoral defeat, but with the very public unravelling of its founding family. The question now is whether the party can recover from this dual blow or if the cracks exposed today will prove fatal.
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