Pappu Yadav joins the Congress and hopes to get an LS seat

PATNA: On Wednesday, Rajesh Ranjan, also known as Pappu Yadav, the head of the Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik), merged his party with the Grand Old Party in New Delhi and joined the Congress. The five-time MP is probably going to run on a Congress ticket in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Although there were many rumours that Yadav would combine his party with the Congress, the official announcement was made one day after he met with the national head of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lalu Prasad, and his son, Tejashwi Prasad, on Tuesday night in Patna.

Pappu had described opposition leader Tejashwi as “like his brother” and Lalu as “a father figure” to him, sharing a picture from this interaction. “Discussions were held on strategies to defeat the BJP in Bihar,” he had said.
Following his election to the Congress, Pappu expressed his gratitude to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi for their appreciation for him. “He (Rahul) is exceptional and the only leader across the globe who has covered more than 4,000km on foot and won the hearts of 140 crore people in the country,” Pappu said.
Additionally, he said on X, “I will be with the Congress for the rest of my life,, starting today.” Rahul Gandhi is to become prime minister.
At the party’s national headquarters in New Delhi,, when Pappu joined, Bihar Congress chief Mohan Prakash, Congress parliamentary party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, lawmaker Mohammad Javed, and national chairperson of the media and publicity department Pawan Khera were also there.
The Mahagatbandhan, the opposition party in Bihar, has not yet revealed its seat-sharing plan. Pappu is expected to run for the Purnia or Supaul seat, according to sources. Pappu just had a sizable demonstration in Purnia.
Pappu is the winner of three Purnia constituencies and two Madhepura Lok Sabha seats. His wife, Ranjeeta Ranjan, is a Chhattisgarh-born Congress member of the Rajya Sabha. However, Ranjeeta unsuccessfully ran for the Lok Sabha in 2019 from the Supaul seat, which she had previously won in 2014.
A number of political groups, including Congress, did not agree with the combination of JAPL and Congress in the meantime. Yadav’s social media comment was mocked by former Congress president of Bihar, Ajit Sharma, who wrote in ‘X’, “Now Lalu-Pappu will cross the Baitarni (river) with the help of Chappu in Bihar.”
Nikhil Anand, national general secretary of the BJP (OBC Morcha), attacked the Mahagatbandhan coalition, saying they “have no ideology, just a lust for power.” “Yadav was seeking refuge in Congress, and he could only become a member of the Grand Old Party after receiving Lalu’s approval. He cited Yadav’s conviction and subsequent acquittal by the Patna high court in relation to the death of CPM firebrand leader and former Purnia MLA Ajit Sarkar as evidence that “the entire India bloc alliance in Bihar is Lalu’s puppet.” “Now, the Left, Congress, and RJD are all on the same page. This demonstrates their lack of ideology and their hunger for power, Anand said.