Bihar: Pappu Yadav will defeat Lalu with ‘power factor’ in Purnia, showed strength during nomination, tension for Bima Bharti

These lines from Sher are often on people’s lips – ‘Neither God was found nor Visal-e-Sanam, Neither here nor there remained.’ Pappu Yadav, who merged his Jan Adhikar Party with Congress about a fortnight ago. But this lion fits perfectly. He had joined Congress only because he would get the support of Indie Alliance in Purnia and there would be no hindrance in his victory. The beginning was good, but before the end of the month the situation changed. Pappu Yadav could neither keep the existence of his Jan Adhikar Party intact nor did Congress pay any attention to him. The ground he had prepared there under the pretext of Pranam Purnia was seen slipping. To save him, he finally had to file nomination for the Lok Sabha elections from Purnia as an independent candidate.

Congress trapped in Lalu’s tricks
Although there is an alliance of only a few parties in the name of Indie Alliance in the country, but among the parties that are together, only the satraps of the regional big parties are doing the work of ticket distribution. Mamata Banerjee is in Indi Alliance in Bengal, but when her allies did not agree to her wish, she parted ways. Similar situation prevails in Maharashtra. Bihar and UP are the only two states where the supremos of big regional parties are deciding everything. In UP, this work was done by Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, while in Bihar, this work is the responsibility of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. Lalu is working according to his own choice in the number of seats, constituencies and selection of candidates. Congress took Pappu Yadav along with the hope that it would give him its symbol from Purnia. But Lalu created a problem.

Congress avoided Pappu
Lalu did not give Purnia seat to Congress. RJD reserved this seat for itself. Even before the Congress could ask Lalu to reconsider his decision, RJD not only declared Bima Bharti as its candidate from Purnia, but also immediately gave him the symbol. Despite all the efforts of Pappu, Congress could not support him. Even though he is chanting the names of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and Sonia even after filing his nomination as an independent candidate, Congress has kept distance from him. Now Bihar State President of Congress Akhilesh Singh has clearly distanced himself from Pappu. There is also a discussion that Pappu has not yet become a primary member of Congress, so the question of him being a rebel does not arise. Although this has not been officially confirmed anywhere, but if true then it is possible that this may have been a strategy of the Congress.

A huge crowd gathered at the nomination
Pappu also tried continuously from his level. He kept appealing to Lalu-Tejashwi Yadav to change the decision in the same manner, just as Bima Bharti also kept calling Pappu as its guardian and requesting their cooperation. Well, neither Lalu’s heart melted nor Congress openly took Pappu’s side. Finally, a day after the nomination of Bima Bharti, Pappu has also filed his nomination on Thursday. Apart from social media, Pappu launched a campaign of WhatsApp chat and tele calling to gather crowd for nomination. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had also arrived at the time of nomination of Bima Bharti. A huge crowd of well-wishers and supporters was seen at Pappu’s nomination. Rarely has such a huge crowd gathered for the nomination of an independent candidate as Pappu did.

Three-way fight because of Pappu
After Pappu’s nomination, one thing has become clear that there will be a three-cornered fight in Purnia. Sitting MP from NDA, JDU, Santosh Kushwaha will be in the fray with the hope of a hat-trick of victory, while RJD’s Bima Bharti will contest as the candidate of Indi Alliance. Pappu will leave no stone unturned to hoist the flag in Purnia on his own. The possibility of Pappu’s arrival causing a dent in RJD’s vote equation cannot be ruled out. Because the Yadav community from which Pappu comes, RJD has been considering it as its traditional vote bank. Whatever happens, the battle of Purnia is going to be interesting. However, the date of withdrawal of nominations is still pending. It is possible that things may be resolved at the last moment and there may be no need for a triangular fight. But looking at the situation so far, there seems to be little hope for it.