Tejaswi Prasad Yadav was born on November 9, 1989, the day Berlin Wall came down. As the fourth deputy chief minister of Bihar he, along with his elder brother Tej Pratap, is expected to work as a bridge between Chote Bhai, Nitish Kumar and Bade Bhai, Lalu Prasad.

He was in his mother Rabri Devi’s lap when Lalu Prasad Yadav took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the first time on March 10, 1990. Over a quarter century later he and Tej Pratap, would help his father control the lever of power in Bihar.

A Class-IX pass-out from Delhi Public School, R K Puram, he dropped out of cricket after not performing very well. He was bought by the IPL team of Delhi Daredevils for the 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ironically, the period between 2009 and 2015 was the worst in his father’s long political innings of 43 years. Already out of power in the state in 2005 the RJD performed badly in 2009 Lok Sabha election winning just four seats. Even Lalu himself lost one of the two seats he contested.

In 2010 Assembly election his party was routed winning just 22 out of 243 seats. His wife, Rabri Devi, lost from her own seats––Raghopur and Sonepur.

In September 2013 a CBI court in Ranchi convicted him in a fooder scam case and thus lost his membership of Parliament.

It was during this period that Lalu married off the last four of his seven daughters.

And it was during this period that Lalu decided to promote his youngest son, Tejaswi ahead of elder one Tej Pratap, who has much less interest in politics. He has a two-wheeler show-room in Aurangabad district of Bihar.

Lalu found some qualities of budding politician in his youngest son. He used to take him to various places in Bihar to teach him the tricks of the trade.

However, when Tejaswi attended the May 15, 2013 Parivartan Rally of RJD in Patna he was in a way tipped as successor to Lalu Prasad Yadav. Lalu had to field the eldest daughter, Misa Bharati, from Patliputra Lok Sabha seat last year as Tejaswi was then not 25.

The RJD boss wanted only Tejaswi to contest the Assembly election this time from Raghopur.

However, sources said that family compulsion forced him to field the eldest of the two son, Tej Pratap, from neighbouring Mahua seat in the same Vaishali district.

Lalu campaigned extensively for Tejaswi and addressed at least four big election meetings. This was the constituency, which was represented by both him and wife Rabri Devi in the past.

Though not even a high school pass, Tejaswi, unlike his mother Rabri Devi, can speak Hindi, English and Bhojpuri. He is I-T savvy, confident, articulate, active in social media, and remains updated.

Like the nomination of Rabri Devi as the chief minister in July 1997, when Lalu was about to surrender in a fodder scam case, Tejaswi had to face a hail of criticism as he is only 26 and youngest of all the 243 MLAs.

But he rejects the charge of inexperience by citing the example of Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal, who too became chief minister without having any previous experience.

But political observers are of the view that it would be Lalu Prasad who would work as proxy for Tejaswi and Tej Pratap. Apart from deputy CM Tejaswi also holds the important portfolios of Road Construction Department, Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare Department while Tej Pratap got Health, Minor Irrigation, Environment and Forest.

The moot question is whether Lalu would confine himself to play the role of a father or a ‘big brother’ to Nitish Kumar. Anyway he would not be presiding over any meeting as he used to do when Rabri Devi was the chief minister.

Once in the year 2000 a secretary rank officer Anup Mukherji––who went on to become the Chief Secretary of Bihar in the Nitish era–– refused to attend one such meeting.

He wrote to the then chief secretary, Mukund Prasad, whom Lalu used to trust too much: “I will not be able to attend the meetings presided over by an extra-constitutional authority.”

Anyway Nitish would go down in history as the one CM, who did not allow his son to come anywhere near power, but inducted two sons of Bade Bhai Lalu Prasad, with whom he had political quarrel for two long decades.