Neither JD(U) nor RJD, in Purnia all eyes on Pappu Yadav: Will be king or kingmaker?

Of the five Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar that will vote in the second phase on Friday, the most talked about is Purnia in the Seemanchal region where more than sitting MP Santosh Kushwaha of the Janata Dal (United), the Opposition or the BJP, it is three-time MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who is contesting as an Independent.

The entry of the five-time MP, three of those wins from Purnia, has put in jeopardy the RJD’s efforts to win the seat for the first time and end the hold of the Janata Dal (United) that has won Purnia in the last two elections.

Pappu Yadav first made news when he joined the Congress last month amid speculation that the Opposition party would field him from the constituency. But the Congress’s Mahagathbandhan ally RJD refused to give up the constituency, making Pappu announce his decision to contest as an Independent against the Santosh Kushwaha and RJD candidate Bima Bharati, a JD(U) rebel.

A popular figure in Purnia, having won from here as an MP in the early 1990s, he is seen as more likely to cut into the RJD’s traditional vote base of Muslims and Yadavs (M-Y) rather than the JD(U)’s constituency of forward castes, non-Yadav OBCs, and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs). The former MP has also been drawing a good response from Muslims and Yadav who together have more than six lakh votes. Against this backdrop, RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav told the crowd at a public meeting on Monday, “If you are not supporting Bima Bharati, let the JD(U) win.”

For the former MP, who started his political career in Purnia in the early 1990s, this marks an attempt to regain his political relevance at a place where he hit the highs of electoral success three decades ago. In 1991,