Bihar: Pappu Yadav may join hands with former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi

NEW DELHI: There seems to be trouble brewing within the ranks of the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal – one of the parties that would merge with five others Janata outfits soon – with senior party MP and strongman Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav indicating that he may tie up with former Bihar chief minister Jiten Ram Manjhi before the assembly polls in the state. “I am exploring options, and have adopted a wait and watch attitude, Manjhiji is holding a rally today, I’m assessing the response,” he said to ET.

Pappu Yadav had been lately asserting himself beyond his pocketborough of Purnea, to areas like Bhagalpur, leading popular protests by students on local issues. Lalu Prasad, debarred from contesting polls following his conviction by a CBI special court in the fodder scam, has been propping up his own family members and children within the party.

Pappu Yadav’s assertion has not gone down well with him. So much so that during RJD’s national executive in Bihar this month, he declared from the stage that “only sons can be heirs”. This was a pointed reference to what he thought were Pappu Yadav’s attempts at taking on his mantle as the next big Yadav leader in Bihar.

Pappu has not hidden his feelings. “Have you ever seen this kind of a feudal assertion by any political leader?” he asked ET. “In a democracy, the people are above all, whoever the people choose, will exercise power,” he added. “It was the people who chose Lalu Prasad himself as the “uttaraadhikaari” or heir of Karpoori Thakur, the same people chose Mulayam Singh Yadav as heir to Charan Singh, the heir to Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not Pratibha or Jayant Advani,” he said.