He had earlier played the role of Bihar chief minister in a 2016 Bhojpuri film, Apaharan Udyog.
Tej Pratap Yadav, the eldest son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, has opened an outlet on the outskirts of Bihar capital Patna to sell his brand of incense sticks. Tej Pratap calls them LR, or ‘Largest Reach’.
"I have been doing pooja for a long time and am attached to incense sticks. I was inspired by a Delhi friend who makes incense sticks from flowers in his factory," Tej Pratap said on his new endeavour.
The 33-year-old has reconciled to his role in the RJD that is led by his younger brother, Tejashwi Yadav, the political heir to Lalu Yadav who also holds the reins to the party that his father founded in 1997.
Like in 2018 when Tej Pratap sought to stamp out speculation about their rivalry, referring to Tejashwi Yadav as “Arjuna’ in the epic Mahabharata and himself as Lord Krishna, his brother’s charioteer who would help deliver Bihar in the general elections in 2019. But there were indications of some friction when Tej Pratap abruptly stepped down from the leadership role of the RJD’s students wing weeks before the 2019 general election.
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Tej Pratap who is popular for dressing up as gods rather than his politics, did make a second attempt to relaunch his aborted acting career in 2018 with a Bollywood movie Rudra: The Avatar. The film is yet to be completed.
He had earlier played the role of Bihar chief minister in a 2016 Bhojpuri film, Apaharan Udyog.
Tej Pratap Yadav opened the outlet in March this year but had to shut it down soon after due to the Covid lockdown.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said it was good that he was looking for an alternative. “Best wishes to Tej Pratap for his new business venture. The way he has been sidelined in the party, it’s good that he is looking for an alternative. Tejashwi can feel relieved because he is the worst victim of his brother’s tantrums,” said BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand.
RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary rushed to defend Tej Pratap and mount a counter-attack on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s government. "What is the harm in it? When the present government has failed to generate employment, he has set an example for the youths by starting a start-up," he said.
Abhishek Chowbey, manager of the outlet, said Tej Pratap did closely track the business but rarely visited the shop. He also revealed that the Hasanpur lawmaker had started the business in March but it was shuttered soon after due to the Covid induced lockdown.
Chowbey was optimistic about the business. “There have been trade queries from Mumbai and Indore and it is being supplied to all parts of Bihar,” he said.
At present, he continued, they were making the incense sticks in 19 fragrances in the price range of ?320 to ?1020 for a 200 gm pack and ?170 to ?530 for 100 gm pack.
“The incense sticks are made from flowers collected from temples and extracts from coconut leaves instead of bamboo. Maybe that’s why its price is high,” he says.
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