At Lunch With Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav's "Fish Bone" Jokes

Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav, whose fish meal video sparked a political storm ahead of Navratras, stirred the pot today with a video of a lunch with family and friends. The guest of honour was Congress's Rahul Gandhi. And while the fare was not too clear from the video, Mr Yadav dropped a broad hint at the end -- "Rahul ji has now had mutton twice".

Though he did not mention the details, the first was probably the time when Mr Yadav's father, Bihar's former Chief Minister Lalu Yadav, taught Mr Gandhi the intricacies of cooking Champaran mutton, a video of which was widely circulated.

That the mood was one of fun and mischief was made clear at the outset. As the video, titled "What's for lunch at the Yadav family", begins, Tejashwi Yadav, sharing a couch with Mr Gandhi, is heard saying, "Hey Sahani ji, your fish bones stuck in Modi-ji's throat?"

Former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahani was Mr Yadav's 'partner in crime'  in the pre-Navratra fish meal. More banter followed, interspersed with political discussion, at the end of which Rahul Gandhi said it was now their turn and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wanted to cook for everyone.

"Bharatiya Janata Party is being defeated by the people of India," read a rough translation of the caption of the video, posted on X, formerly Twitter. At the end, Mr Yadav had added, "Video courtesy Rahul Gandhi".

A video posted by Mr Yadav ahead of Navratra, showing him sharing a fish meal with Mr Sahani, had sparked a huge row.

As a furious BJP targetted him, Mr Yadav tweeted, "We had uploaded this video to test the IQ of the BJP and Godi media followers and we were proved right in our thinking. The tweet says "Dinank" i.e. Date, but what do the poor blind followers know? At the end, Sahni ji has also mentioned about getting chilli".

In this election, the RJD is pinning its hopes on hordes of young men of the state who are hungry for jobs.

During  campaigning, Mr Yadav has constantly showcased the 4 lakh-plus jobs the Grand Alliance government had provided in 17 months before Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on the alliance in January this year.