Patna Feb 27 PTI In a fresh setback to the beleaguered Congress in Bihar the scion of a politically influential family in the state on Sunday quit the party and joined Lalu Prasads RJD its estranged allyRishi Mishra whose grandfather Lalit Narayan Mishra was the railway minister during Indira Gandhis prime ministership was inducted into the RJD by Prasads younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi YadavMishra had joined the Congress in 2019 severing ties with the JDU of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Prasads arch rival He had won a by-election on JDU ticket in 2014 but lost to the BJP a year laterTalking to reporters on the occasion Mishra claimed he was convinced that RJD is the only party which can pose a credible challenge to the BJP in BiharHe however refrained from making any comments on the strained ties between Congress and RJD saying it was a matter to be decided by the partys top leadership Mishra had recently lashed out at the Congress leadership in the state accusing it of promoting self-interest at the cost of the partys prospectsHis allusion was to speculations that BPCC chief Madan Mohan Jha was lobbying for a ticket for one of his children for the upcoming MLC polls and the by-elections to a couple of assembly segments a few months ago in which the Congress insistence on fielding the son of former MLA Ashok Kumar from reserved Kusheshwar Asthan led to break-up with the RJDTejaashwi Yadav said Mishras entry was yet another proof that RJD belonged to A to Z all sections of the society a term to rubbish the claim of opponents that the party cared only for MY Muslim and YadavsMishra whose granduncle Jagannath Mishra had been the states chief minister thrice pledged to strengthen the party in the populous Mithila region of north Bihar where his family continues to enjoy clout among BrahminsIn a related development former Union minister Devendra Yadav also visited Tejashwi Yadavs residence and announced that he will merge his Samajwadi Janata Dal with the RJD The merger will take place on March 23 coinciding with Ram Manohar Lohias birth anniversary said Yadav who has formerly been with the RJD as well as the JDU and ranks among prominent OBC leaders from Mithila PTI NAC RBT RBT