Lalu Yadav is desperately seeking Pappu Yadav's help in the upcoming election. At his behest, Union Minister Taslimuddin met Pappu at the hospital last week.
NEW DELHI: Lalu Yadav, who shunned Pappu Yadav during the last elections, is desperately seeking the latter's help in the upcoming election. At the behest of Lalu Yadav, RJD leader and Union Minister Taslimuddin met Pappu at the hospital last week.
Meanwhile, Lalu’s electoral ally, CPM, has decided to oppose the don from wherever he or his men contest. Pappu Yadav is an accused in the murder of CPM's Purnea district MLA, Ajit Sarkar.
Even as the RJD chief is desperately seeking to patch up with Pappu, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat did not mince words when he said, "If he contests, we will oppose him."
In stark contrast to a united NDA, the UPA is a divided house with Ramvilas Paswan and CPI general secretary A B Bardhan sticking to their stand of floating a third front in Bihar to take on Lalu Yadav’s RJD and the BJP.
Since 1990, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party has been able to form three governments in Patna with his 'MY' (Muslim-Yadav) combination with a base vote of 28 per cent. The state has 15 per cent Muslims and 13 per cent Yadavs and in the February elections, the RJD lost some of its Yadav and Muslim votes.
RJD spokesperson Sanjay Paswan, however, said there is no erosion in Yadav support to the party. Asked about a split in Yadav votes, Paswan said, "There is no problem now. Everything has been sorted out. We are meeting the local leaders and sorting out differences. The UPA will form the government."
Parties like the Janata Dal United and Samajwadi Party have been recruiting disgruntled Yadavs. The JDU’s state president is Bijendra Yadav, a former minister in RJD government, while the SP has Devnath Yadav. Dadan Phelwan, another Yadav leader in Bhojpur region had also supported the SP in the last election while Ranjan Yadav, a confidant of Laloo Yadav is with LJP now.
Pappu Yadav, originally a Lalu ally, had hopped parties in the last one decade before joining the LJP last year only to quit and contest as an independent. In the February elections, Pappu Yadav was wooed by both BJP and RJD. Pappu, who was lodged in jail at that time, demanded 20 assembly tickets for his supporters in Purnea, Madhepura and Saharsa belt from RJD.
Feud in the family also hit RJD prospects. Lalu’s brother-in-laws - Sadhu Yadav and Subash Yadav, both fighting turf wars and at loggerheads, wanted at least two dozen seats for their supporters, almost all of whom lost. Sahdu wanted a ticket for his wife, which Lalu refused.
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