Lalu Prasad backtracks on RJD’s successor

Patna, Sept 27 (IBNS) Days after projecting his youngest scion Tejaswee Tarun as his Rastriya Janata Dal’s (RJD’s) successor, former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad on Monday said his 20-year-old son was ‘too young’ to take politics.

Lalu’s latest presentation of his party’s future leader comes after being criticised by his adversaries for projecting his son as his political successor.

“Tejaswee is too young for politics…he is five years away from contesting polls even if he were to do so,” Prasad said in his usual stoic style.

“My son is too young for both marriage and politics.” Lalu’s latest statement comes on his son only four days after Tarun’s appearance before the media with his father of RJD’s new ‘avatar’.

Lalu said Tejaswee will decide his future and will take the final call on his ‘ultimate’ profession.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was first to react on Thursday saying the RJD chief’s move was to perpetuate family-driven politics.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi had also attacked Prasad saying that he had forced a ‘reluctant’ son to take a plunge into politics to boost his own electoral prospects.

The RJD chief gave preference to his 20-year-old son over his other children as his likely political successor, and said Tejaswi had to get married before contesting an election.

The former Bihar chief minister has seven daughters and two sons. The eldest of them, Misa (named after the acronym of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act), was born during the emergency (1975-77), when Lalu, then a follower of Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan, was in jail.

Heir-apparent Tejaswi was born in 1990, the year his father became chief minister of the state. He has represented Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Under the Indian Constitution, one has to be 25 to be an MLA or a Lok Sabha MP. For the Rajya Sabha, the minimum age is 35.