In the run-up to the 2015 assembly polls in Bihar, a young man named Sanjay Yadav rushed to Laloo Prasad Yadav one morning to show him Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on the need to review the reservation policy. Sensing an opportunity to make the most of it, the RJD president asked Sanjay to post the RSS chief’s remarks on his Twitter handle. The ensuing controversy turned out to be a trump card for the RJD, with Laloo accusing the BJP-led NDA of pursuing a hidden agenda to abolish caste-based quotas. It was, in fact, Sanjay who had first visualised the possibility of turning Bhagwat’s opinion into the RJD’s electoral plank. Elections: Number Game
Haryana-born Sanjay was working with a multinational firm when he first met Laloo’s son Tejashwi Yadav when the latter was playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. He moved to Patna barely months before the polls at Tejashwi’s behest to work as an election strategist for the RJD, which had faced a series of...