Tej Pratap Yadav missing in star campaigners list released by RJD for Bihar bypolls

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Thursday has released a list of 20-star campaigners for the upcoming by-polls of Tarapur and Kusheshwarsthan assembly seats. However, the list does not include the name of RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav. The star campaigner list includes the names of the party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav.

The 20 names in the star campaigner list include Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Abdulbari Siddiqui, Jayprakash Narayan Yadav, Uday Narayan Chaudhary, Shyam Rajak, Bhola Yadav, Tanveer Hassan, Trishan Patel, Lalit Kumar Yadav, Manoj Kumar Jha, Bharat Mandal, Ram Kumar Sahani, Alok Kumar Mehta, Shiv Chandra Ram, Lovely Anand, Chandrahas Chaupal, Bharat Bind, Ramvraksh Sada, Anil Kumar urf Sadhu Paswan.

The announcement came in the backdrop of a strained relationship between Tej Pratap and his younger brother Tejashwi.

Earlier on Sunday, reacting to the allegations of RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav that his father and veteran leader Lalu Prasad Yadav is being held "hostage" in New Delhi, party leader Tejashwi Yadav said that being a "hostage" is not the personality of Laluji.

Earlier in August, Tejashwi had asked Tej Pratap Yadav to maintain "discipline".The strain between the two top leaders has been evident after RJD students' wing state president Akash Yadav was removed from his post. Akash Yadav is believed to be a close aide of Tej Pratap Yadav.