Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday expelled his elder son and former Bihar minister Tej Pratap Yadav from the party for six years for “ignoring moral values” in his personal life.

Lalu Prasad Yadav said that Tej Pratap’s public conduct was not in line with his family’s values. “From now on, he will have no role in the party or family,” the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief said on X.

This came after a controversy erupted on Saturday surrounding a now-deleted post from Tej Pratap’s Facebook profile, NDTV reported. The post featured a photo of him with a woman named Anushka Yadav, and said that she and Tej Pratap had been in a relationship for 12 years.

In response to the post, several social media users asked why Tej Pratap married former Bihar minister Chandrika Rai’s daughter Aishwarya in May 2018 if he was already in a relationship with another woman at the time. The two separated just months after getting married, and their divorce proceedings are underway in a Patna court.

Tej Pratap claimed on Saturday that his social media profiles had been hacked, and that his photos had been “wrongly edited to harass and defame me and my family members”. He urged his well-wishers and followers not to “pay heed to rumours”.

Commenting on the matter, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Tej Pratap’s younger brother Tejashwi Yadav was quoted by ANI as saying: “As far as I am concerned, I do not approve of such acts. We cannot tolerate such things. He [Tej Pratap] is an adult and free to make decisions. The party chief has already made his sentiments clear through his tweet.”

The development comes months ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, which are slated to be held by November. Tejashwi Yadav is expected to lead the Rashtriya Janata Dal campaign ahead of the elections.