For most of his political career, socialist veteran Sharad Yadav was known for his fierce anti-Congressism, moulded by his icons Dr Rammanohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan. Yet, towards the end of his life, this ‘untouchability’ of the Congress came to an end, when he allowed his daughter Subhashini Raja Rao née Yadav to contest from Bihariganj Assembly segment of Madhepura on a Congress ticket in the 2020 Assembly polls.
Sharad Yadav could easily have fielded his daughter from his own party, the Loktantrik Janata Dal, but perhaps decided Congress as a safer bet. Subhashini lost the election to Niranjan Kumar Mehta of the JD(U), securing 62,820 votes against Mehta’s 81,531.
This is perhaps the lone case of Sharad wavering from his staunch ideological position. Otherwise, he remained a lethal critic of the Congress till the emergence of BJP leader Narendra Modi as PM in 2014. Though opposed to dynastic politics as a core socialist ideal, Yadav was no exception in promoting his children in politics.
Though Subhashini, who writes Subhashini Sharad Yadav in her Twitter profile, has not been very active in politics, his son Shantanu Bundela is seen cultivating the father’s pocket-borough Madhepura constituency. It is entirely up to the RJD leadership to decide if Bundela fits the bill from Madhepura in future, though.
A senior JD(U) leader said: “It was wrong of Sharad Yadav to allow his daughter to contest from the Congress. He should instead have chosen the RJD. This was perhaps the lone aberration in his otherwise illustrious political career.”