The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD- "National People's Party") is a political party in India, based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Laloo Prasad Yadav. The party came about as a result of Lalu Prasad Yadav, ex-president of Janata Dal, being evicted by Sharad Yadav,^{[citation needed]} the then president, on corruption charges ($250 million) over the farm support funds. The mass base of the party has traditionally been Yadavs and Muslims, two large and relatively politically active segments of Bihar's population. In 2008, RJD received the status of recognized national level party following its performance in north-eastern states. RJD was derocognised as a national party on 30 July 2010.

For a long time in Bihar, political activity was a privilege and the prerogative of the landed and upper castes particularly Bhumihars, Brahmins and Rajputs. This was more so in the Bhojpuri belt from which Lalu Yadav hails. The landed upper castes also dominated the civil and police administration. Despite reservations in government service, many OBC and SC people could not avail of it because of the poor state of basic primary and secondary eeducation in Bihar. The powerful castes mainly supported the Congress Party in rural areas and the Jan Sangh in urban areas. Coming from an impoverished family of cattle herders and small farmers of the backward and aggressive Yadav caste, Lalu wanted to gain in political influence for his community and had a sense of hatred towards the Hathwa Raj, hereditary Bhumihar landed magnates of Gopalaganj and Siwan. He and others of his ilk, like Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan lashed on to the opportunity provided by JP Narayan's anti-emergency movement. The emergency was a period of Congress dictatorship, which indirectly implied upper-caste dictatorship, in Bihar, In the 1977 State and National elections, backward caste candidates triumphed in most constituencies.

Lalu Prasad Yadav (Devanāgarī: लालू प्रसाद यादव) is an Indian politician from Bihar. He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He is a Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from the Saran constituency in Bihar.

He entered politics during his student days at Patna University, and he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a Janata party candidate. At the age of 29 he was one of its youngest members of Parliament.

He is famous for his charismatic leadership and mass appeal, and has been criticized for caste-based politics. and the corruption cases against him.

Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 till 1997, when he resigned following escalating corruption charges in the Fodder Scam. From 1997 to 2005, with brief interruptions, his wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister. Her political opponents often accused her as having served as his "surrogate." His tenure as Chief Minister of the state has been criticized for lawlessness and has been termed as the Jungle Raj.

Ram Kripal Yadav (born 12 October 1957) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Patna(now Patna Sahib) constituency of Bihar in the 14th General Elections, 2004 by defeating C.P.Thakur of BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party). He is a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) political party. He did not contest the 15th General elections in 2009 as the RJD supremo Lalu Yadav himself contested from that constutuency.Ram Kripal Yadav is Member of Rajyasabha now.

Rahul Gandhi ([ˈraːɦʊl ˈɡaːnd̪ʱiː]; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and member of the Parliament of India, representing the Amethi constituency. Gandhi is the general-secretary of the Indian National Congress. He is the grandson of Feroze Gandhi and Indira (née Nehru) Gandhi, and fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi on 19 June 1970 as the first of the two children of Rajiv Gandhi, who later became the Prime Minister of India and Sonia Gandhi, who later became President of Indian National Congress, and as the grandson of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He is also the great-grandson of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Priyanka Vadra is his younger sister.

Rahul Gandhi attended St. Columba's School, Delhi before entering The Doon School in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), also his father's alma mater, from 1981–83. Meanwhile, his father had joined politics and became the Prime Minister on October 31, 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Due to the security threats faced by Indira Gandhi's family from Sikh extremists, Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka were home-schooled since then. Rahul Gandhi joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1989 for his undergraduate education but moved to Harvard University after he completed the first year examinations. In 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE during an election rally, he shifted to Rollins College due to security concerns and completed his B.A. in 1994. During this period, he assumed the pseudonym Raul Vinci and his identity was known only to the university officials and security agencies. He further went on to obtain a M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1995. After graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London. In 2002 he was one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private Ltd.