Do we like Tejashwi Yadav?
Our score: 6 out of 10. Nothing harmful turned up in his words, but the record on LGBTQ+ issues is thin and the corruption cases are unresolved.
Tejashwi Yadav was born in 1989, the youngest of nine children of Lalu Prasad Yadav, one of Bihar's best-known politicians. He left school after Class 10 and chased cricket, getting as far as a Delhi Under-19 side, before repeated injuries ended it a few months later. Politics was always going to come calling in that house.
He won the Raghopur seat in 2015 at 26 and was made Deputy Chief Minister under Nitish Kumar, picked over his older brother. That coalition collapsed after about two years. In 2020 his RJD became the biggest party in the Assembly with 75 seats, but the NDA formed government, and in August 2022 he was sworn in as Deputy CM again.
Now the stoush. The CBI's IRCTC case concerns the alleged handing of operational contracts for two railway hotels to a private firm. On 13 October 2025 a trial court framed charges of conspiracy and cheating against 14 accused, Tejashwi among them. He took it to the Delhi High Court, which in January 2026 asked the CBI to respond. He has not been convicted, and he earlier called a related case vendetta politics.
There is a second matter. The CBI alleges Group-D railway jobs were handed out between 2004 and 2009 in exchange for land transferred to Lalu's family or associates, and one report says charges were framed against 14 accused including Tejashwi. That report carries no statement from him. Treat it as alleged and unproven.
On the harm test, the honest answer is a thin record. Searches turned up nothing from him on LGBTQ+ people either way, and nothing on climate. On Muslims, he said his party voted against the Waqf amendment bill and promised to scrap it, accusing the BJP of dividing the country along communal lines. Separately, BJP figures filed police complaints in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in August 2025 over a press-conference jibe at the PM, which is rude politics rather than harm to a group.
The good stuff is modest but real. Back in 2015, as a new Deputy CM, he said he would give his first month's salary to Chennai flood relief. His pitch is jobs, with a promise of a government job for every family and an end to people leaving Bihar to find work, though he gave no costings when asked.