Tej Pratap flouts protocol, Bihar forest minister asks brother-in-law to stay in official meet

Department officials said on condition of anonymity that Shailesh Kumar, who is married to Yadav's eldest sister and Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti, had on Wednesday come to his wife's younger brother's office to congratulate him for securing a cabinet berth. Tej Pratap asked him to take a seat beside him until the meeting was over so that they could have a chat.

The new Mahagathbandhan government in power in Bihar has found itself in controversies since taking the oath, and the trend has continued with forest minister Tej Pratap Yadav reportedly asking his brother-in-law to stay in an official meeting.

Photographs clicked a few days ago have caused significant embarrassment for the Mahagathbandhan government. The photographs show Tej Pratap Yadav, the minister for environment, forestry and climate change, along with his brother-in-law at a meeting with department officials.

Department sources said on condition of anonymity that Shailesh Kumar, who is married to Yadav's eldest sister and Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti, had on Wednesday come to his wife's younger brother's office to congratulate him for securing a cabinet berth.

Yadav, who is never known to be a stickler for norms, reportedly asked the brother-in-law to sit beside him until the meeting was over so that they could chat.

However, Tej Pratap's protocol blunder did not end there. He also went ahead and shared pictures of the meeting on social media. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which is sore over the sudden loss of power, pounced on the opportunity.

While terming the protocol breach as unsurprising, BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said the RJD basically intends to further the interests of the family, notwithstanding its posturing concerning its politics of religious appeasement and casteism.

Anand's remark was an apparent reference to Tej Pratap being the son of RJD president Lalu Prasad and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and his younger brother Tejashwi Yadav becoming the state deputy chief minister.

Meanwhile, Tej Pratap is not the only minister under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has made headlines for the wrong reasons. Just last year, the then minister for animal husbandry and fisheries, Mukesh Sahani landed in controversy when he deputed his brother to inaugurate a department function that he himself could not attend.