The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) faced trouble on Saturday, 15th November, a day after the party faced a crushing defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections. Rohini Acharya, daughter of RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav, declared that she was quitting politics, and in a surprise move, added that she was cutting all ties with her own family.
RJD’s alliance, the Mahagathbandhan, performed poorly in the elections, winning only 35 seats out of the 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly. Soon after the results, Acharya posted on X that she was stepping away from public life. “I am quitting politics and I am disowning my family… This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do… and I am taking all the blame,” she wrote.
I’m quitting politics and I’m disowning my family …
— Rohini Acharya (@RohiniAcharya2) November 15, 2025
This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do …nd I’m taking all the blame’s
According to PTI, Sanjay Yadav, whom she mentioned in her post, is an RJD Rajya Sabha MP and considered a close political aide of Tejashwi Yadav. Rameez, who was also named in the message, is an old friend of Tejashwi and belongs to a political family in Uttar Pradesh.
This dramatic announcement did not come out of nowhere. For the past few weeks, signs of a rift within the family had been visible. Last month, Acharya unfollowed her father, Lalu Prasad and brother Tejashwi on X, triggering speculation. She had also supported criticism of Sanjay Yadav, who was seen by many as becoming too powerful within the party.
Who is Rohini Acharya?
Rohini Acharya is trained as a doctor but chose to focus on her family life after marriage. She lives with her husband, who is based in Singapore. She became widely known across India for donating a kidney to her father, Lalu Prasad, a few years ago. In the political arena, she contested the Lok Sabha elections from Saran last year but lost.
It was speculated that she was “unhappy” over the expulsion of Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of Prasad, from the party. However, during the assembly elections, she was seen campaigning for her younger brother Tejashwi, who was the Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate.
The election results were a major setback for the RJD. The party’s seat count fell sharply from 75 to just 24. Meanwhile, the ruling NDA scored a massive victory. Both BJP and JD(U) achieved close to an 85% strike rate, winning most of the seats they contested. Together, the NDA crossed the 200-seat mark in the 243-member Assembly, giving the alliance a three-fourths majority and making the BJP the single largest party.
