Prison bars Pappu Yadav’s swearing-in

Here, the Lok Sabha secretariat finds itself in a piquant situation as there is no such precedence in independent India. An official says: "He can either apply for a leave of absence or make a submission to the Speaker requesting that he may be allowed to take oath. The Home Ministry may then make arrangements to bring to the Speaker for taking the oath. We are examining his application and will take adecision in a day or two.

Currently, Pappu Yadav is in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital’s Room No 1. He has just been operated for hernia, and has also had a CT scan done of his brain. He says: "Meri mansik stithi thik nahin hai (my mental condition is not okay)" – a condition which he attributes to the several lathi-charges ordered on him by the Laloo Prasad Yadav Government in Bihar. "After I won the election from Purnea early last month, they even tried to poison me," he goes on to claim.

Meanwhile on Friday, Pappu plans to move the Supreme Court seeking provisional bail. "On humanitarian grounds, at least, they should grant me bail," he observes.

The bearded three-term Independent MP is all fire speaking of the courts’ attitude towards him. "In the people’s court, I was declared victorious. But the Patna High Court refused to grant provisional bail. FIR mein jinka naam hai, unko bail mil jaata hai. Lekin Pappu Yadav ko bail nahin milta (People whose names are there in the FIR are grantedbail, but my case is rejected)," he alleges while referring to the bail granted to former MP Anand Mohan in the Gopalgunj DM’s murder case or the bail granted to Samata Party MP in the Ashok Singh murder case.

"Lekin mujhe judiciary mein bharosa hai (But I have faith in judiciary)," he adds as an afterthought.

Pappu claims he is only 32 years old. "I must be the youngest MP to be elected thrice at such a young age," he boasts. If so, when was he elected for the first time? "I was elected for the first time to the Bihar assembly from Singheshwar in 1990," he says rather sheepishly. But wasn’t he underage then? "No, no. My certificate age is more," he hastens to add, lest he be accused of going the Rakesh alias Samrat Chaudhary way.

Shifting to politics, Pappu says: "I’ll strengthen those forces which are opposed to the Rabri Devi-Laloo Prasad Yadav regime in Bihar. For this purpose, I’ll extend my support to Sharadji (Yadav) and Ram Vilasji (Paswan). I’ll try to bring the Yadavs back into themainstream. During Laloo’s regime, they have been completely isolated."

But his most vehement criticism is for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its former MP Anand Mohan. "The CPM never fights political battles. It is used to riding on crutches. One moment, they are with Laloo. Next moment, they’ll be with Congress. Then with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Their politics is not in the country’s interests," he points out.

As for Anand Mohan, he says, he is not a political man. "He can never go beyond his wife," Pappu adds.

He says there are at least 15 cases registered against him. "But they are all political cases. There is only one case that of Ajit Sarkar’s murder registered against me under Section 302. The case is a conspiracy hatched by Laloo. My name is not there even in the FIR. I have been arrested only on the basis of a statement made by a criminal called Rajan Tiwari," he asserts, adding, "But he too later said that he had taken my name under duress."