RJD-led Mahagatbandhan Turmoil: Pappu Yadav's entry into Congress threatens alliance

March 21, 2024 11:24 am | Updated 12:34 pm IST - New Delhi

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagatbandhan is threatening to unravel with the entry of Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who merged his Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) with the Congress on Wednesday and has staked claim on the Purnia Lok Sabha seat in North Bihar.

According to the leaders involved in negotiations between the two sides, the RJD has refused to concede the Purnia seat to Mr. Pappu Yadav. It has set a deadline till Thursday evening for the Congress to decide and has threatened to go it alone if the party sticks to its decision. “What new does Pappu Yadav bring to the table? The Yadav vote-bank that he claims to mobilise is already there with us,” a senior RJD leader said.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has played an instrumental role in the induction of Mr. Pappu Yadav into the party fold. But sources close to Mr. Pappu Yadav insist that the RJD was always kept in the loop before taking this step. On Tuesday evening, Mr. Pappu Yadav met RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad and Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, before flying to Delhi to join the Congress. “It was with the RJD’s blessing that he joined the Congress. During the discussion, the RJD suggested that he could contest from Madhepura but we insisted on Purnia which Mr. Pappu Yadav has been working on for more than a year now,” a person close to Mr. Pappu Yadav said.

Mr. Pappu Yadav has won the Madhepura Lok Sabha seat twice and Purnia constituency thrice. His wife Ranjeeta Ranjan is a Congress Rajya Sabha member from Chhattisgarh.

Out of the about 19 lakh voters in Purnia Lok Sabha seat in the backward belt of Seemanchal, 21 % voters are Muslims and it has another 6% strong population of Yadavs. JD(U)’s sitting MP Santosh Kumar exuded confidence in the face of the speculation about Mr. Pappu Yadav’s candidature. “Other than Yadav and Muslims, who will vote for him or the Opposition candidate? The NDA, on the other hand, has support of ‘paanch pooran’ (Five spices) castes — from Kurmi-Kushwaha community, mahadalit, extremely backward caste, Paswans and all the forward castes. They will get around 30-32 % votes, like they got in the 2019 polls, while we will near 60%,” Mr. Kumar said.

Meanwhile Siwan Lok Sabha constituency is also emerging as the bone of contention. The CPI(ML) has staked claim to this seat, but the RJD is too reluctant to let go. The talks between the RJD and the CPI(ML) have hit a stalemate over the issue. “They want to restrict us with just three seats, this was justified when we have JD(U) too in the alliance. Now, as per our strength in the Assembly, they should concede at least five seats to us, including Siwan,” a senior CPI(ML) leader said.