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High drama was witnessed at the Rashtriya Janata Dal headquarters in Patna on Monday when an office-bearer of its youth wing arrived announcing that he was resigning in protest against alleged misbehaviour of Tej Pratap Yadav, the mercurial elder son of national president Lalu Prasad.
Ramraj Yadav, who heads the city unit of Yuva RJD, alleged that he was stripped, beaten up and abused by Tej Pratap, with the help of his loyal supporters, inside the house of the latter's mother Rabri Devi on Friday when the house of the former chief minister was teeming with visitors at an Iftar party she had hosted.
The visitors included the top brass of RJD besides Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, state industries minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan, among others.
"He was assigned to look after the arrangements at one of the numerous tents put up inside the bungalow. Tej Pratap got furious upon spotting me, though I was there armed with a party communication. He took me inside a room where his men took off my clothes and beat me up," alleged the party leader.
He claimed that Tej Pratap kept egging on his henchmen while Ramraj was being humiliated and that he even got the entire episode videographed.
"I challenge Tej Ptratap to come out in public with the video. People will see his real face. He used expletives, not just against me, but (younger brother) Tejashwi Yadav and even (father) Lalu Prasad," alleged Ramraj who claimed that he had brought the matter to the notice of Tejashwi and state unit president Jagadanand Singh.
"Tej Pratap had threatened to get me killed. He even named a party MLA with criminal antecedents whom he intended to pitch in for getting me bumped off. My hair still stands on end when I recall the entire episode. The party leadership seems to be in no mood to act. So here I am with my resignation," said Rajaram.
RJD sources were, predictably, tight-lipped over the episode which comes as the latest controversy surrounding the maverick elder son of the party's founding chief. In active politics for less than a decade, Tej Pratap has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, ranging from his personal life to his run ins with those active in the party.
Tejashwi, the RJD heir apparent and the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, who is often himself at the receiving end of his elder brother's tantrums, was asked about the episode by journalists.
He chose to hurry past, muttering under his breath that the matter will be investigated.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party which has always been quick to fish in troubled waters whenever the temperamental Tej Pratap courts a controversy, promptly came out with a reaction.
BJP OBC morcha national general secretary and state spokesperson Nikhil Anand underscored Rajaram's contention that Yadavs were ill-treated in the RJD, notwithstanding the fact that its first family belonged to the caste.
"It seems Tej Pratap has a grouse against Yadavs who are well-educated, particularly those hailing from Patna district," said Anand, himself a Yadav, who also recalled the instances involving former Union minister and Ram Kripal Yadav and Sanoj Yadav, both of whom are now with BJP.
Ram Kripal Yadav was seen as Lalu Prasad's Man Friday until he broke ranks in 2014, fought on a BJP ticket and defeated his former mentor's daughter Misa Bharti. Popular in Patna since he was the deputy mayor decades ago, Ram Kripal is said to have been upset over the treatment he received from the RJD supremo's elder son.
Sanoj Yadav had quit the party in 2017 after Tej Pratap, then the state health minister, had beat him up at an Iftar party hosted by Prasad, who was then out of jail.