Former chief minister Rabri Devi is convinced her elder son Tej Pratap Yadav — who left home on November 2 to press for divorce from his wife Aishwarya Rai — will return home.

Back in Patna from New Delhi, where she appeared before the Patiala House Court in the IRCTC tender scam case, Rabri said: “Beta hai mera Tej Pratap, maan jayega (Tej Pratap’s my son. He’ll agree).”

Tej Pratap is adamant on divorcing his wife. Since leaving home, he is believed to be on a spiritual trip, visiting temples in Vrindavan in Mathura, Varanasi and Haridwar. He was last seen in Mathura.

His family and his in-laws are trying their best to broker peace. Family members from both sides, including Aishwarya’s father Chandrika Rai and mother Poornima Rai, have sat together several times to pacify things but all attempts have failed. The couple married six months back.

There was talk that Tej Pratap will meet Tejashwi on his birthday on November 9, when he was in New Delhi, but no meeting took place. Even on Monday there was a buzz that Tej Pratap might meet Rabri in New Delhi but he did not show up. Rabri, however, said she has spoken to Tej Pratap. “He’s my son, not an enemy. He’ll return.”

Tej Pratap has put two conditions for his return. He wants his former private assistant Om Prakash, Tejashwi’s private assistant Mani Prakash and Rabri’s private assistant Nagmani — three brothers from Rabri’s Selar Kalan village — thrown out of 10 Circular Road. The second condition is his family’s support for the divorce.

In all likelihood, Tej Pratap will not return before November 29 when the divorce case comes up for hearing in a Patna civil court.

Rabri also took a jibe at the Nitish Kumar government, saying the government itself had hidden Manju Verma and was not able to find her despite an apex court order.