Lalu Prasad Yadav

Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1991 to 1997 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founding president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a prominent political party in Bihar. He is also a former member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. His political rise in the 1990s marked a significant shift in Bihar's social and political landscape. He entered politics at Patna University as a student leader and, in 1977, was elected as one of the youngest members of the Lok Sabha for the Bharatiya Lok Dal of the Janata Alliance. He became the chief minister of Bihar in 1990. His party came to power in the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election in coalition with Nitish Kumar of JD(U). However, the coalition ended when Nitish resigned and the RJD was ousted, becoming the opposition party. In the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the RJD remained the single largest party in Bihar. Later, after the JD(U) rejoined the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) in 2022, the RJD headed the government, but this alliance was short-lived as the JD(U) eventually returned to the NDA. Lalu was convicted in the Fodder Scam and was serving a term until 17 April 2021, when he was granted bail by the High Court. He is disqualified from Office under the Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act till 6 years after his release. He is husband of former chief minister Rabri Devi and father of Tejaswini Yadav & Tej Pratap Yadav.