3 min readPatnaJan 19, 2026 09:38 AM IST
First published on: Jan 19, 2026 at 08:00 AM IST
As the RJD met for the first time since its Assembly poll drubbing on January 16 and 17 to chart its course for the future, party supremo Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya — who has fallen out with her brother and former deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav — ruffled feathers as she dared her brother to “identify vultures in the party and punish them.”
Despite her comments, the party decided to move ahead with plans to make the former Deputy CM its national working president in the near future, keeping in mind Lalu’s health problems. He currently shares party responsibilities with Lalu.
“Tejashwiji pointed out that the RJD secured over 30 lakh more votes in last year’s Assembly polls compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. All leaders expressed full faith in Tejashwiji, and it would not come as a surprise if he is made the national working president soon,” an RJD leader told The Indian Express after the meeting.
Just ahead of the meeting, Acharya had posted on X: “Rather than pretending to hold a review meeting, there is a need for self-introspection and taking responsibility. A review meeting would make sense only if the party shows adequate courage to identify vultures who seem to have taken control of party matters. The people know the rest.”
Acharya has been targeting RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP and Tejashwi’s political adviser Sanjay Yadav since her fallout with her brother in the middle of last year’s Assembly poll campaign.
Strategy shift
Meanwhile, the RJD also signalled a shift in strategy following a drop in its Assembly tally from 80 seats in 2020 to 35 last year. According to sources, the party has decided to step up interactions with people instead of merely “reacting to the functioning of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government” and statements by leaders of the ruling alliance.
A day ahead of the review meeting, Tejashwi held discussions with the RJD’s four Lok Sabha MPs and five Rajya Sabha MPs to chalk out strategy for the coming Budget session of Parliament. Following this, the party expanded the scope of its January 17 meeting, which was attended by RJD state president Mangani Lal Mandal and other state functionaries.
“We discussed the strategies that need to be adopted in both Houses during the Budget session. While we will continue to press for a special package for Bihar and minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and maize, we will also seek to define the below poverty line (BPL) once and for all,” RJD’s Buxar MP Sudhakar Singh told The Indian Express.
Singh was referring to RJD’s Aurangabad MP Abhay Kushwaha urging the NDA to clarify how 8.5 crore of Bihar’s 13 crore population were beneficiaries of the Rs 5-per-kg rice scheme. Kushwaha also sought to know whether these 8.5 crore people were availing benefits under other government schemes meant for BPL families.