Mulayam gives a hearty welcome to samdhiji Lalu

A beaming Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav visits Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's residence in Lucknow to perform the 'shagun' ceremony ahead of his daughter Raj Lakshmi's wedding. Rediff.com’s Sharat Pradhan reports.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav may not have seen eye to eye for some time. But a new bond is being formed between the two Yadav chieftains through wedlock between Lalu’s youngest daughter Raj Laxmi and Mulayam’s grand-nephew Tej Pratap.

While Mulayam was still trying to bring about a re-alignment of the erstwhile Janata Dal constituents to put up a strong united front against the Bhartiya Janata Party, Lalu flew down to Lucknow on Sunday to seal the new family chord that he was striking with his once estranged friend Mulayam.

Lalu arrived in Lucknow along his son and some other family members carrying “shagun” for Tej Pratap.

“A formal engagement will be held in New Delhi on December 16 to be followed by the marriage, the date for for which would be finalised by pundits,” Lalu told anxious media persons.

“It would be an early date -- perhaps in February,” he added.

Asked what he had brought as the “shagun”, Lalu said: “apna hriday (my heart).”

He went further, “aakhir donon padosi hain... rajya padosi hai isliye sambandh bhi humara waisa hi hai (Afterall, we belong to neighbouring states. Hence, our relationship is neighbourly).”

When a media person asked whether the matrimonial alliance will have some bearing on the new front for which efforts were already underway, “Yeh permanent gatthjod hai. Hum log miss kar rahe they... Ab pakka cemented ho gaya ab yeh (this is a permanent alliance. So far we were missing this. Now it has been cemented).”

When the same question was asked to Mulayam, he said, “Humare priya Lalu Prasadji ne sambandh qayam kiya hai… woh sthaayi hai. Peerhi dar peerhi tak jaayega yeh sambandh. Hum unka swaagat karte hain (our dear Laluji has struck this relationship, which is here to stay for life. It will carry on for generations. I heartily welcome him).”

Interestingly, Tej Pratap and Raj Laxmi had known each other as students in Noida’s Amity University campus. Subsequently, Tej went off to Leeds University in UK from where he did his Masters before coming back to India.

He made his debut in public life by getting elected as Block Pramukh in Saifai.

More recently, he was elected to the Lok Sabha in the bye-election from Mainpuri, a seat vacated by Mulayam.

A well-known Mulayam bastion for decades, Mainpuri elected Tej with a huge margin of over 3 lakh votes.

Tej’s father, late Ravindra Pratap Singh enjoyed very close proximity to his uncle Mulayam who brought him up like a son ever since Ravindra’s father (Mulayam’s elder brother) passed away.

Ravindra too met an untimely death and the Saifai Mahotsava is held as an annual tribute to him in the Yadav’s clan’s native home in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh.