Tej or Tejashwi: RJD awaits Lalu's successor

When Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad Yadav nominated his younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as the deputy CM of Bihar in November 2015, political experts believed the veteran leader had made it amply clear as to who he thought would take his political legacy forward.

The view got more support after disintegration of the Grand Alliance government in Bihar in July, when Tejashwi in his 45-minute speech in the Bihar legislative Assembly put forth a posse of questions before CM Nitish Kumar and his new deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, especially since both of them were unable to give satisfactory replies to many of his queries.

"His one-liners such as 'Nitish formed four governments in four years' made us feel that he had done a lot of homework, and the way he delivered those sentences showed that he has stepped out of his father's shadow," a senior RJD leader said.

However, just when Tejashwi was being thought of as Lalu's political successor, his elder brother and former health minister Tej Pratap Yadav ensured that he too could not be written-off from the scene so easily.

Adopting a rustic but fiery style, Tej Pratap virtually stole the show on Sunday in a rally despite political bigwigs like JD-U's Sharad Yadav, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav or even his own father being in attendance.

However, it remains to be seen whether the rally was a one-off cameo act by Tej Pratap, or if he has finally decided to step out of his father's shadow and beyond his brother's stardom.