Bihar leader Pappu Yadav merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress and officially joined the party at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi. Previously associated with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Pappu Yadav served as the Lok Sabha MP from Madhepura from 2014 to 2019. He established the Jan Adhikar Party in May 2015.
Heaping praises on Rahul Gandhi, Pappu Yadav said there is no alternative other than Rahul Gandhi now.
"Rahul Gandhi has struggled the most in this world, especially at a time when digital media has taken over most of the hard work, he walked for more than 4000 km in extreme temperatures. The respect which I have received and the faith put in me and my party by Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are enough to keep me going. Rahul Gandhi has awakened the consciousness of 130 crore people of India," he said.
However, Pappu Yadav faced setbacks in recent elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he contested as a Jan Adhikar Party candidate from Madhepura but suffered a significant defeat, securing only 8% of the votes with 97,631 votes, while the winning candidate Dinesh Chandra Yadav of Janata Dal (United) (JDU) received over 6 lakh votes. RJD's Sharad Yadav also garnered over 3 lakh votes in the same constituency. Despite challenges, Pappu Yadav's political journey continues. His party, the Jan Adhikar Party, contested in two assembly elections but failed to secure any seats on both occasions.
In related news, RJD's Manoj Jha indicated progress in seat-sharing discussions in Bihar. After a meeting with Congress General Secretary Mukul Wasnik, Jha mentioned that they have made significant progress in seat-sharing arrangements, with finalization expected within a day or two.
Regarding concerns about seat distribution among the INDIA bloc partners, Jha emphasized the importance of winnability over specific seat numbers. He highlighted the formation of a comprehensive alliance aimed at public interest, moving away from personality-centric politics and providing an alternative narrative.
Bihar, with its 40 Lok Sabha seats, holds substantial political significance. Recent events, including the resignation of Pashupati Kumar Paras from the Union Cabinet due to seat allocation issues within the NDA, underscore the complex dynamics of political alliances in the state. Jha criticized the BJP's approach, referring to it as a pattern of "use and throw" with alliance partners.