Janshakti Janata Dal president Tej Pratap Yadav, son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) founder Lalu Prasad Yadav, has sought political guidance from an unlikely source: former political strategist and founder of the Jan Suraj Party (JSP). Prashant Kishore.
Tej Pratap Yadav has been struggling to find a foothold in Bihar politics after being expelled from the state. RJD. He contested the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections under the banner of his newly formed party JJD, but failed to win any seat, even losing his stronghold, Mahwa.
Yadav visited Kishor, who is currently on a tour of the state, at an undisclosed location late on Tuesday night, and shared a short video of the meeting on social media. The former Bihar minister wrote that he considered the “in-depth discussion” with Kishor on “state policy” to be “extremely important”.
“We talked extensively about the expectations of the people and the changing political equations. This meeting… included deliberations on several issues that could shape the direction of politics in the times to come,” Yadav wrote in X’s post along with the video.
“I, Tej Pratap Yadav, see this dialogue as an important experience in my political life, where my resolve to move forward with a positive mindset and the spirit of public service has become stronger,” added the mercurial leader, who mentioned leaders as diverse as his younger brother, along with the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi and the first BJP Chief Minister of Bihar Samrat Chaudhary.
How did Tej Pratap Yadav fare in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections?
Tej Pratap Yadav is the eldest son of former RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav Chief Minister of Bihar Rabri Devi. He finished third and barely escaped losing his deposit in Mahua, the assembly division in Vaishali district, where he had made a successful debut a decade ago. His party got a blank result in the polls, which were dominated by the NDA alliance led by the Janata Dal (United) led by former Prime Minister Nitish Kumar, who recently became a Rajya Sabha MP, and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Tej’s younger brother Pratap Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, who was recently appointed as RJD’s national working president, scored a hat-trick in the neighboring Raghupur seat.
Is Tej Pratap Yadav-Prashant Kishor alliance on the cards?
Leaders of Bihar’s ruling NDA and opposition party Mahagathbandhan, citing a PTI report, refused to comment on the meeting, though some admitted that if Tej Pratap Yadav and Prashant Kishor form an alliance, it may emerge as a “third front” in the state.
However, 48-year-old Kishor stressed that he does not want the Jan Suraj Party to have a truck with any other party, which aims to “provide Bihar with a political alternative”.
However, in the numerous interviews he gave to the media during the polls, in which the Jan Suraj Party incidentally failed to make its mark, Kishor was insinuating that his views on Teja Pratap Yadav were less harsh than his views on Tejashwi and Samrat Chaudhary.
“Tej Pratap Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Samrat Chaudhary all owe their rise in politics to the fact that they were born to reputed political leaders. But unlike the other two, Tej Pratap Yadav seems more transparent,” Kishore said.
Chaudhary, who along with Tejashwi are regularly attacked by Kishore over his lack of good educational qualification, is the son of Shakuni Chaudhary and Parvati Devi, both former MPs.
