RJD celebrates foundation day sans Lalu Prasad; sons take out bicycle rally

PATNA: Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, once the numerouno political force in Bihar, observed its 24th foundation day on Sunday as Yadav's sons led party workers in a bicycle rally aimed at targeting the ruling NDA over spiralling petroleum prices.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was floated on this date in 1997.

The party came into being as a result of a split caused in the Janata Dal by Yadav, who was then its acting president and feared a defeat at the hands of challenger Sharad Yadav in organisational polls.

The move helped the wily former chief minister to pass the baton to his wife Rabri Devi -- a demure homemaker who had till then stayed away from politics -- when he faced imminent arrest on account of a charge sheet filed against him in the infamous fodder scam.

The party celebrated its foundation day in the absence of its charismatic founding president for the third consecutive year, as Yadav has been away in Ranchi serving sentences in a number of cases related to the scam.

"I was too young back then, so I do not remember much of those days. Lalu is not an individual but an ideology. He is missed not only by us, but the people at large," Yadav's younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav told reporters before embarking on the cycle rally.

Tejashwi, who under the wings of his father made a spectacular debut in 2015 assembly polls and went on to become the deputy chief minister at the tender age of 25, is set to face the hustings later this year as his party's chief ministerial candidate and the principal challenger to his former boss Nitish Kumar.