Aishwarya Rai may contest assembly polls against Tej Pratap Yadav: Dad

PATNA: RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai may contest the upcoming assembly election against her estranged husband Tej Pratap Yadav, her father Chandrika Rai indicated on Tuesday. A petition for divorce between Aishwarya and Tej is pending in a city family court.
“She will be making her own decisions and I fully support her. I am not going to stop her from contesting election where ever she wants,” Chandrika told TOI. Chandrika, who left RJD and joined JD(U) led by CM Nitish Kumar recently, said he would support his daughter in her political plans, even to contest against Tej. He also said Aishwarya would soon tell the media about her plans.
Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap, who is an MLA from Mahua in Vaishali, is looking for a safe seat and may contest the coming election from Hasanpur in Samastipur district. He visited the constituency on Monday. When asked if Aishwarya would contest against Tej from Hasanpur, Chandrika said no such decision had been taken yet.
The speculation about Tej shifting to Hasanpur was rife after he met his father Lalu in Ranchi last week. He also held ‘Tej Samvad’ with people in Hasanpur and held a road show there on Monday. JD(U)’s Rajkumar Rai had won the Hasanpur seat in alliance with RJD and Congress in 2015.
“It is not because of Aishwarya that he is planning to change his seat. He is a bhagoda (fugitive). He neither visited his constituency nor did any work for the people of Mahua. He knows he will lose from Mahua,” said Chandrika.
However, RJD’s state spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said the seats have not been decided yet and such visits are common before elections. “He is our party leader and can visit any constituency for campaigning. This has nothing to do with the ticket,” said Gagan.
Political experts also feel this could be Lalu’s trick to divert Aishwarya’s attention from Mahua. Also, both are waiting for one another to open their cards first.