Tej Pratap Yadav's meeting with Prashant Kishor fuels speculation: ‘Could shape direction of politics’

JAnshakti Janata Dal chairwoman Tej Pratap Yadav, the boy of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) father Lalu Prasad Yadav, has sought-after(a) political counsel from an unexpected source: former political strategist and Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor.Tej Pratap Yadav has been struggling to find a toehold in the politics of Bihar upon expulsion from the RJD. He fought the 2025 Bihar assembly elections under the banner of his newly formed JJD but failed to win any seat, even losing his own bastion, Mahua.Yadav called on Kishor, who is currently touring the state, at an undisclosed location late Tuesday night, and shared a short video clip of the meeting on social media. The former Bihar minister wrote that he viewed as "quite significant" the "in-depth discussion" with Kishor on "politics of the state"."We talked extensively about the expectations of the people and the changing political equations. This meeting... Involved deliberations on several issues that could shape the direction of politics in the times to come," Yadav wrote in an X post along with the video. "I, Tej Pratap Yadav, view this dialogue as a significant experience in my political life, where my resolve to move forward with a positive mindset and the spirit of public service has grown even stronger," added the mercurial leader, who tagged leaders as diverse as his younger brother, besides the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Bihar’s first BJP chief minister Samrat Choudhary.How did Tej Pratap Yadav fare in the 2025 Bihar assembly elections?Tej Pratap Yadav is the elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi. He finished third and barely escaped losing his deposit in Mahua, the assembly segment in Vaishali district, from where he had made a successful debut a decade ago. His party drew a blank in the polls, which were dominated by the NDA alliance led by the Janata Dal (United) of former CM Nitish Kumar, who recently became a Rajya Sabha MP, and the BJP.Tej Pratap Yadav’s younger brother, Tejashwi Yadav, who was recently appointed as the RJD's national working president, had made a hat-trick in the adjacent Raghopur seat.Is a Tej Pratap Yadav-Prashant Kishor alliance on the cards?Leaders of Bihar’s ruling NDA and the opposition Mahagathbandhan, quoted in a PTI report, declined to comment on the meeting, though some reportedly admitted that if Tej Pratap Yadav and Prashant Kishor formed an alliance, it could emerge as the proverbial "third front" in the state.However, 48-year-old Kishor has been maintaining that he did not wish Jan Suraaj Party to have a truck with any other party, which aimed at "providing Bihar with a political alternative".Nonetheless, in the numerous interviews that he gave to media outlets during the assembly polls, in which the Jan Suraaj Party incidentally failed to make a mark, Kishor had been hinting that his views about Tej Pratap Yadav were less uncharitable than about Tejashwi and Samrat Choudhary."Tej Pratap Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Samrat Choudhary all owe their rise in politics to the fact that they were born to political leaders of repute. But, unlike the other two, Tej Pratap Yadav comes across as more transparent," Kishor had said.Choudhary, who, along with Tejashwi, is regularly attacked by Kishor for lacking a good educational qualification, is the son of Shakuni Choudhary and Parvati Devi, both former MPs.