Lok Sabha elections: Pappu Yadav to join Madhepura poll race as independent

PATNA: Ending all speculations regarding his party’s alignment with Grand Alliance (GA), Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) patron Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Monday announced that he would contest the Lok Sabha election from Madhepura seat as an independent candidate.


“Enough is enough. I will file nomination papers from the Madhepura parliamentary constituency as an independent candidate on March 28. All my efforts to save the democratic set up of the country have gone in vain,” Pappu told reporters at Madhepura.

Pappu, who had won the election from Madhepura seat in 2014 Lok Sabha election on an RJD ticket by defeating veteran socialist leader and former Union minister Sharad Yadav, said he was ready to merge his party with the Congress if the GA wished so. “I was in favour of all like-minded parties joining hands to defeat the communal forces. However, all my efforts proved futile,” he said.

Loktantrik Janata Dal patron Sharad Yadav is likely to contest from Madhepura seat on RJD symbol. The RJD has already claimed that Sharad’s party would merge with it after the declaration of Lok Sabha poll results.

“Main Madhepura ka sirf MP hi nahi hun. Madhepura meri maa hai. Mujhe isse koi dur nahi kar sakta (I am not only an MP from Madhepura. Madhepura is like my mother and nobody can keep me away from this constituency),” he said.

The JD(U), an NDA ally, has fielded Dinesh Chandra Yadav as its official nominee from the Yadav-dominated Madhepura seat. “There will be a triangular fight in Madhepura if Pappu joins the fray. Pappu’s presence matters as he has worked a lot for the development of the constituency,” said Ganesh Yadav, a diehard supporter of the Madhepura MP.

Pappu was expelled from the RJD due to his differences with the party leadership. His wife Ranjit Ranjan had won the 2014-general election from Supaul on a Congress ticket.

Madhepura will go to polls in the third phase on April 23.

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