Patna: In one of the most difficult decisions of his 51-year-long political career, RJD president Lalu Prasad on Sunday expelled his elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, from the party for six years and declared that he would “have nothing to do with the family”.Lalu’s stern move came a day after Tej announced on social media that he had been “in a relationship for 12 years” with a woman despite being married and his divorce petition still pending before a family court in Patna. However, a few hours later, Tej deleted the post and claimed on X that his Facebook page had been “hacked” and his photographs were “wrongfully edited”.Lalu made his announcement on the same social media platform but did not refer directly to Tej’s earlier post. As RJD’s president for the past 27 years, he issued a sharp rebuke of his elder son’s behaviour, calling it contrary to the values the party and family stand for.In a post on X, Lalu wrote, “Disregarding moral values in personal life weakens our collective struggle for social justice. The actions, public conduct and irresponsible behaviour of my elder son do not align with our family values and traditions. Therefore, under these circumstances, I am distancing him from the party and family. From now on, he will have no role in the party or family. He is being expelled from the party for six years.“Lalu added, “He (Tej) is capable of making an assessment of the good and bad, the virtues and faults, of his own personal life. Those who choose to associate with him should make their decisions based on their own judgment. I have always been an advocate for public decency in society. The obedient members of the family have adopted and followed this principle in public life. Thank you.”Lalu’s decision comes just months before the Bihar assembly elections, which the RJD is set to contest under the leadership of his younger son, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Born to Lalu and former CM Rabri Devi, the brothers are among four of nine siblings actively involved in politics.The eldest of the siblings, Misa Bharti, is the RJD MP from Pataliputra. Another daughter, Rohini Acharya, made her electoral debut in last year’s Lok Sabha elections from Saran but was unsuccessful.Rohini strongly backed her father’s decision. In a post on X, she wrote, “Those who take care of the dignity of the environment, tradition, family and upbringing are never questioned. Those who abandon their wisdom and repeatedly commit the mistake of crossing the limits of decent conduct and family prestige make themselves the subject of criticism.”The remaining five siblings – Tej and Tejashwi’s sisters – have so far remained outside the political arena, though one of them, Hema Yadav, has been named in the land-for-jobs scam dating back to Lalu’s tenure as railway minister in the UPA-I govt.Tej Pratap entered politics during the 2015 assembly elections and is currently serving his second term as MLA. He had brief stints as a minister in the state cabinet. Initially elected from Mahua, he was later shifted to Hasanpur due to perceptions of waning popularity in his original constituency.Unlike his younger brother Tejashwi, now regarded as one of Bihar’s most popular political figures, Tej has frequently made headlines for the wrong reasons.Just five months after marrying Aishwarya Rai, the granddaughter of former Bihar CM Daroga Prasad Rai, Tej filed for divorce in a Patna family court. The couple had tied the knot on May 12, 2018 in a high-profile ceremony in the state capital.