Rohini Acharya Yadav gave one of her kidneys to Lalu Yadav in 2022
Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya, who gave one of her kidneys to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch, is set to enter politics and make her Lok Sabha election debut from Bihar's Saran seat, party leaders close to the RJD first family have indicated.
If this happens, the 44-year-old would be the fourth child of Mr Yadav and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi to enter politics. Ms Acharya's brother Tejashwi Yadav is Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly and RJD chairperson. Her two other siblings, Tej Pratap Yadav and Misha Bharti, are members of Bihar Assembly and Rajya Sabha, respectively.
The speculation regarding Ms Acharya's entry into politics gained steam after a social media post by Sunil Kumar Singh, a member of Bihar legislative council known to be close to the Yadav family.
"Dr Rohini Acharya symbolises love, devotion and dedication to her father. All party functionaries of the Saran area want her to be named the party's Lok Sabha candidate for Saran," Mr Singh posted on Facebook yesterday. Ms Acharya was also present at an RJD rally in Patna's Gandhi Maidan earlier this month.
The Saran Lok Sabha seat is currently held by BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy. It has been represented by Lalu Prasad Yadav in the past.
Who is Rohini Acharya?
Rohini Acharya is a doctor by education and holds an MBBS degree. In 2002, she married Samresh Singh, a software engineer and son of Rai Ranvijay Singh, retired income tax officer and a friend of Lalu Yadav. Over the past two decades, Ms Acharya and her husband have lived in Singapore and the US. The couple have two sons.
Known to be active on social media, Ms Acharya made headlines when she donated one of her kidneys to the ailing RJD veteran in 2022. The selfless act had earned praise from all quarters, even from bitter rivals of the RJD - BJP's Giriraj Singh and Dr Nishikant Dubey.
Earlier, in 2017, there was speculation that Ms Acharya may make her political debut with an Assembly poll pass. But eventually, that did not happen.
Despite not being in active politics, Ms Acharya is known to make cryptic remarks on major political developments. Her "garbage returns to dustbin" remark after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's latest flip-flop and return to the NDA had sparked a row. She had put up several other posts, in which she was seen as taking a swipe at the JDU leader, which she later deleted. While BJP leaders had then said Ms Acharya must apologise, the RJD had hit back, saying she did not name anybody in her posts.