Will RJD see turbulence while it seeks out a new party chief?

As per the schedule released by the RJD at its state headquarters here, elections for units at booth, panchayat, block and district levels will start from August 16 and conclude by September 6.

Amid concerns over the health of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal is preparing for organisational elections, which will culminate in the election of the national president in October. Lalu has held the top position in the RJD since the party was founded.  Elections for units at the booth, panchayat, block, and district levels will begin on August 16 and end on September 6, according to the timetable made public by the party at its state headquarters here.

Along with the national council, which is the party's highest authority, elections for state presidents and members of the state executive will take place on September 21. On October 11, the council will convene in Delhi to conduct the crucial national president election.

Prasad formed the RJD in 1997, splintering the Janata Dal. He is on the wrong side of 70, recovering from a shoulder injury, and planning to have a kidney transplant overseas. Prasad has never faced opposition when running for the top position in the party, and he is now serving his 11th straight term as the head of state. Due to the jail sentence he was serving for his involvement in charges involving the fodder scam, he was only most recently elected in 2019.

Whether the ill septuagenarian might think about retiring has been a subject of discussion for some time. Tejashwi Yadav, the younger son and heir apparent of Prasad, has been recognised by the party's rank and file as its de facto head.

Since guiding the party to a strong showing in the 2020 assembly elections, when the RJD emerged as the single largest party while coming far short of the majority threshold, the youthful leader's stature has increased. There are worries that if Prasad cedes even the party position to his favourite son, the sibling rivalry would deepen. Though both Misa Bharti and Tej Pratap, his oldest daughter, pretend to adore Tejashwi, their repressed ambitions are nevertheless known to everybody.

(With PTI inputs)