More than a reason why strongman Pappu Yadav is joker in pack

ARARIA: BJP is promising to protect the cow but one man in Bihar is going even beyond that. Strongman Pappu Yadav, who his supporters claim is the ‘ joker in the pack’, is promising a cow to every family that is below the poverty line in the state. Along with Asauddin Owaisi, who is contesting six seats, Pappu Yadav and his Jan Adhikar Party with candidates in 40 seats in Phase 5 plans to spoil the party for the Nitish-Lalu Mahagathbandan in the last lap.

Pappu, the sitting MP from Madhepura who floated his own party few months ago after being fired by Lalu Prasad from the RJD, insists he is nobody's B-team. In fact, his huge advertisements in local newspapers attack PM Modi while he targets Lalu Prasad in his speeches. What makes Pappu's case intriguing is that his wife Ranjeet Ranjan is sitting Congress MP from Supaul even as he goes hammer and tongs at the Lalu-Nitish-Congress alliance.

“No government will be formed in Bihar without me. This (Kosi-Seemanchal) is my area — my heart beats for it. Both Modi and Lalu-Nitish don't care for this area,” Pappu says at his last rally of the campaign at Jokihat in Araria on Tuesday, not saying which side he wishes to ally with if he wins some seats. A decent crowd has descended to hear him.

“Our local boy is also flying in a chopper now. Big cars with his posters zip through the villages these days,” a zapped Omesh Yadav in the crowd says. In fact, Pappu's highvoltage campaign with money power at display is the talk of the region. Giant hoardings of Pappu — with his election symbol hockey and ball and a message of Chak De India — greets one in Araria and Madhepura district going to polls on Thursday. At Jokihat, he is making novel promises — like converting Mithlanchal and Kosi into “fish bowl of India” and more beautiful than Patna.