Pappu Yadav's party to contest next Lok Sabha polls with 'like-minded parties'

Patna: Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav Thursday announced that his fledgling Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections in alliance with the "like-minded parties".

In a statement issued in Patna, Yadav said his party was looking forward to contesting three seats though he did not identify these nor did he name the parties he was looking forward to having a truck with.

Bihar has a total of 40 parliamentary seats and Yadav, who floated JAP after being expelled from RJD, is the lone MP from the party at present.
The JAP president, however, ruled out the possibility of any future understanding with Lalu Prasad's RJD. He admitted to having an "ideological affinity" with the Congress to which his wife Ranjita Ranjan, MP from Supual in Bihar, belonged.

Of late, there have also been reports in a section of the media that the BJP-led NDA in Bihar - which includes Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) - was exploring the possibility of an understanding with JAP which could help the coalition cut into the RJD's formidable Yadav vote bank. Some of these reports also suggest that the NDA might back Pappu Yadav to marginalise expelled JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav in Madhepura constituency.

Training his guns at RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, Pappu Yadav said he has sent a legal notice to the son of Lalu Prasad for having called him "a BJP agent" when he extended his support to the Bharat Bandh called earlier this week in protest against soaring oil prices. "I have respect for Lalu. But his son is simply a spoilt brat born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Actually, none of Lalu's family members wants the RJD founder to come out of jail as they are busy pursuing their own ambitions", he said.

"RJD and JD(U) are full of power brokers who are responsible for weakening leaders like Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. They have simply exploited the backward classes and blackmailed the minorities by showing them the fear of the BJP", Yadav said.

The MP, who had raised the issue of Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal on the floor of the House in July this year, also announced that he would be undertaking a "padayatra" in the north Bihar town on Friday on the theme of "Nari bachao" (save the woman).