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.

Nitish Kumār (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been a Union Minister and is the Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India, since 2005. He belongs to the Janata Dal (United) party. As Chief Minister, he gained popularity by initiating a series of developmental and constructive activities including building of long-delayed bridges, re-laying roads that had ceased to exist, appointing over 100,000 school teachers, ensuring that doctors worked in primary health centers, and keeping crime in check.

Nitish Kumār was born in Kalyanbigha, Bihar to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi. His father was a freedom fighter and was close to the great Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha, one of the founders of modern Bihar. His nickname is 'Munna'. He is a teetotaler, does not smoke, and is a frugal eater.

He has a degree in electrical engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna now NIT Patna. He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, but almost halfheartedly, and later moved into politics.

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.

Rajesh Ranjan पप्पू यादव (born 1961/1962 (age 49–50)), better known as Pappu Yadav, is an Indian politician. He won elections to the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1999, and in 2004 from several constituencies in Bihar on the RJD ticket. On 2008-02-14, he was convicted in the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator Ajit Sarkar and sentenced to life. Subsequently he was debarred from the 2009 general election.

Pappu Yadav has more than 15 criminal cases pending against him, but has been convicted only in the Ajit Sarkar murder case.

Pappu Yadav comes from a farmer family in Madhepura and started off as a farmer. He was born in Khurda, Karveli in Madhepura district. From his college life he started his career as a student.

Initially a small-time criminal, he moved up the crime ladder along with his role in politics. By the late 90s, he was a well-established mafia don, muscling his way around Bihar and across India.

He was elected to the Bihar legislative assembly from Singheshwar,Madhepura in 1990 as an independent candidate, but in 1991 he contested and won through to the 11th Lok Sabha from Purnea. He served four Lok Sabha terms, and asked one question on agriculture. He has been a member, off and on, of Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal. He has switched parties often, having been a member of the Samajwadi Party, and LJP.