RJD chief left red-faced after wife, daughter lose

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti lost from Saran and Pataliputra seats respectively in Bihar to BJP candidates. M I Khan reports.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was forced to eat humble pie after his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti lost from Saran and Pataliputra in Bihar to Bharatiya Janata Party candidates.

Rabri Devi was defeated by BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran by a margin of 42,000 votes whereas Misa Bharti was defeated by Ram Kirpal Yadav in Pataliputra by a margin of 44,000 votes.

The RJD chief had worked overtime in both constituencies campaigning for his family. However, the results left Lalu red in the face. Saran is considered as home turf for Lalu Prasad, who has been winning the Lok Sabha polls from this seat since 1977. In 2009, he won from Saran by over 50,000 votes.

After both his wife and daughter were defeated, Lalu Prasad told newspersons that he hadn’t expected this. “It was opposite to my analysis of the polls,” he said.

On the other hand, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan won from Hajipur and Jamui parliamentary constituency in Bihar. Even Ram Vilas’s brother Ram Chander Paswan won from the Samastipur seat. Ram Vilas Paswan defeated Congress candidate Sanjeev Toni by a margin of over 2 lakh votes in Hajipur. Chirag, actor-turned-politician, defeated RJD candidate Sudhansu Shekhar Bhaskar by a margin of over 85,000 votes in Jamui.

In Bihar, the RJD has only won four seats.