Ghar Tuta, Ghar Chhuta: How Lalu Prasad’s Family Reached Breaking Point

A deep fissure has split what was once Bihar’s most formidable political family. The dynasty that dominated the state’s politics for three uninterrupted decades now stands in open disarray.

Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, who together helmed Bihar as Chief Ministers and later anchored the Opposition in both houses, had long projected the image of a cohesive political clan. Their younger son, Tejashwi Yadav, served two terms as Deputy Chief Minister; the elder, Tej Pratap, held portfolios such as Health and Forest. The eldest, Misa Bharti — a product of the Emergency years — rose from the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha.

From Phulwaria village in Gopalganj, Lalu Prasad built a political empire that rivalled even the legendary Ramgarh ruler Kamakhya Narayan Singh in reach and authority. Today, the self-styled “new king” of Phulwaria faces an insurrection not from the party rank and file but from within his own family.

The First Break

The rupture surfaced when Tej Pratap’s wife — the elder daughter-in-law — was turned out of the 10 Circular Road residence in the middle of the night. A police case followed, moving through the courts and now pending before the Patna High Court.

What followed was unprecedented: Lalu expelled Tej Pratap from both the party and the ancestral home, accusing him of maintaining relations with another woman in Patna. Tej Pratap hit back, alleging a conspiracy by Tejashwi’s aide Sanjay Yadav — whom he derisively labelled a “Jaichand”.

He then floated his own outfit, the Loktantrik Janata Party, and fielded candidates against RJD nominees — including against his brother. The gamble proved costly. Tej Pratap lost; his candidates failed; and the RJD fell from 75 to 25 seats in the Assembly, barely retaining the Leader of Opposition’s chair.

Siblings Walk Out

The night the results came in, another shock awaited the family. Daughter Rohini Acharya — the same daughter who had donated a kidney to Lalu two years ago — walked out of the 10 Circular Road home with her children. At the airport, she broke down before the media, alleging abuse and humiliation, and claimed that footwear had been raised at her.

Rohini accused Tejashwi’s close aides, who had moved into the bungalow from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, of manipulating ticket distribution and smearing her reputation. The most vicious rumour, she said, was the insinuation that she had taken ₹1 crore and given Lalu a “dirty kidney”.

By the next morning, three more daughters had left for Delhi with their families. They spoke of Lalu and Rabri breaking down, yet helpless — insisting that all control now rested with Tejashwi.

Veteran socialist and old Lalu confidant Shivananad Tiwari observed acidly that Lalu had become a “Dhritarashtra” — a blind patriarch watching his own house crumble.

Eviction From Power Address

Even as Lalu tried to contain the political fallout, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar delivered another jolt: the family was ordered to vacate the 10 Circular Road bungalow adjoining the CM residence. The house had been Rabri Devi’s official accommodation first as former Chief Minister and later as Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council. The family had lived there for 25 years.

They have now been shifted to 39 Harding Road — a two-kilometre move, but symbolically a world apart.

The phrase “ghar tuta, ghar chhuta” feels painfully apt.

Lalu, Unmoved by Official Quarters

Yet accommodation is hardly new terrain for Lalu. When he first became Chief Minister in 1990, he stayed in a single-room servant quarter of the Bihar Veterinary College. He moved to 1 Anne Marg only after his predecessor, Dr Jagannath Mishra, vacated it. When Nitish Kumar succeeded him, Lalu shifted again — to 10 Circular Road. Now, he has been moved once more, to 39 Harding Road, the same house where today’s Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary once stayed as Panchayati Raj Minister.

For context: since Independence, Bihar’s first Chief Minister Sri Krishna Sinha lived at 1 King George Avenue; Abdul Ghafoor occupied it later. Bindeshwari Dubey converted 1 Anne Marg from a state guesthouse into the permanent CM residence.

An Era Unravels

A dynasty that once controlled Bihar’s politics with an unshakeable grip now stands divided, bruised and splintered — its decline playing out not in party forums, but inside its own home.