Congress rebel Pappu Yadav’s plunge into Purnea may queer RJD pitch, give an edge to JD(U)

Pappu, who had recently merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress, had been expecting the party’s ticket from Purnea. But not only did the RJD refuse the seat to the Congress, it went on to field JD(U) rebel and former state minister Bima Bharati as its own nominee there, against sitting JD(U) MP Santosh Kumar Kushwaha.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kushwaha had defeated the Congress’s Uday Singh by over 2.6 lakh votes.

Now that Pappu has joined the fray, Purnea is all set to see a triangular contest with the former likely to cut into the vote base of the Mahagathbandhan’s joint candidate Bharati, resulting in the NDA’s nominee Kushwaha gaining an advantage. Pappu had won from Purnea thrice, in 1991, 1996 and 1999, before shifting to Madhepura, which he went on to win twice.

After filing his nomination Thursday, Pappu broke into tears, saying, “By denying me the Purnea ticket, the RJD is trying to murder me politically. I had been insisting on contesting from Purnea from the start, and had conveyed the same to top leaders of Congress before I merged my party with it. I had also met RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who advised me to try for Madhepura or Supaul. But I had told him that I preferred Purnea because of my connection with the people there.”

Pappu said he had also sought to know if he had the qualities to become an MP again. “If Lalu Prasad’s sons and daughters in politics meet the qualifications to become politicians, so do I. Mujhme kya kami hai (What do I lack)?” he asked.

Pappu had started his career as the political manager of socialist leader and former MP Sharad Yadav. Highlighting his long association with Bihar’s Seemanchal and Kosi regions (comprising Purnea, Saharsa, Madhepura and Supaul), he claimed: “I have the backing of my party for the Purnea battle.”

Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh, however, said: “The party does not support his (Pappu’s) candidature.”

The state Congress has officially maintained that it will strongly back the candidature of the RJD candidate in the Purnea seat allotted to its senior ally as part of their seat-sharing arrangement under which the RJD is contesting 26 seats and the Congress 9 out of the state’s 40, with the remaining five allotted to the Left parties.

A section of the state Congress claims that Akhilesh Prasad Singh had been against Pappu joining the party and contesting from Purnea. “As Pappu Yadav’s wife Ranjeet Ranjan is already a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, Akhilesh was uneasy. If Pappu grows in the Congress, Akhilesh could lose his clout,” said a party leader.

An RJD leader said, “Pappu Yadav’s candidature from Purnea must not be taken lightly. Given his popularity in the area, he would make the battle a keenly contested one. It will be anyone’s game in Purnea now.” He said the RJD could not afford the rise of any Yadav leader in the Mahagathbandhan camp with its no. 2 and Lalu’s son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav being widely acknowledged as its key face now.

Purnea will go to the polls in the second phase on April 26.