Pappu ‘raids’ Rudy’s area for ambulances, booked

PATNA The Saran police have registered an FIR against former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) president Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who on Friday raided a place where over two dozen ambulances purchased from the fund of Saran MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy were parked

PATNA

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The Saran police have registered an FIR against former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) president Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who on Friday raided a place where over two dozen ambulances purchased from the fund of Saran MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy were parked.

The FIR was filed following a complaint from Rudy’s office, which alleged that Yadav and his supporters damaged two of the ambulances and manhandled the caretaker, besides violating lockdown norms, said the MP’s representative Rakesh Singh.

On Friday, Yadav, who had been visiting different parts of the state to expose the lack of preparedness in dealing the Covid situation, visited Amnour in Saran and allegedly found over 30 ambulances with ‘MPLADS-2019’ marked on them.

“There are over 30 ambulances here. There were more earlier, but they have been moved. Overall, close to 100 ambulances were parked here. We want to know why they were not being used… this is not about Rudyji or Pappu… this is about people of Bihar. The entire state is reeling under impact of Covid,” Yadav said.

Rudy said the ambulances were lying unused for want of drivers. “There are not 60, 70 or 100 ambulances, but only 20. And they are not being used because we don’t have drivers. Pappu Yadav… you can take all the ambulances, but promise the people of Saran that you will find and employ drivers for all of them,” he said. “These are the ambulances which were returned by the panchayats as they were not in used.”

“We have a fleet of 75-80 ambulances of which 50-55 are running. The people of the district have never suffered for want of ambulance. Not many drivers volunteer to drive with a Covid patient. I have written to Saran district magistrate to provide me with drivers,” Rudy said.

Yadav, however, hit back. On Saturday, he presented before the media 40 people with their driving licences who were willing to run the ambulances. He alleged that panchayats that did not vote for the MP were asked to return the ambulances.

Yadav found support from CPI-ML and the RJD. “This is BJP’s way of development. The matter should be probed,” said CPI-ML state secretary Kunal. “He could have donated (the ambulances) to a hospital or NGO,” RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari said.

The Congress too backed Yadav. AICC media panellist and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said criminal proceedings should be initiated against Rudy for using the MP fund like his own money. “Discretionary quota fund is managed by the local district authorities and the MP/MLA concerned has no role in deciding the course of purchase or use of the articles purchased from the fund,” said Mishra.

“It would expose the nefarious designs of the state government if any action is taken against Yadav for expose the corrupt practices adopted by the BJP leader,” said Mishra.