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Pappu Yadav, Danish Ali among 3 to join Congress ahead of polls
Yadav, a five-time MP from Bihar, merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress. He is known for having influence in Seemanchal area of Bihar
New Delhi/Patna: The Congress got a fillip on Wednesday as three senior Opposition leaders, including former Lok Sabha MP Pappu Yadav, joined the party, weeks before the much anticipated Lok Sabha elections.
Besides Yadav, suspended Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali and former Jammu & Kashmir MP Lal Singh joined the Opposition party. Congress MP Abdul Khaleque, who resigned on Friday, withdrew his resignation after a meeting with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and returned to the party fold.
Welcoming Yadav, Congress’s publicity department chairman Pawan Khera, said: “With great pleasure, with great joy, I introduce a person who is sitting with me, who does not need any introduction, Pappu Yadav ji, his is the Jan Adhikar Party, everyone knows about his party, about him. He is a strong leader, today, impressed by the policies, leadership and direction of the Congress Party, he has decided that he will merge his party with the Congress.”
Yadav, a five-time MP from Bihar, merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress. He is known for having influence in Seemanchal area of Bihar. His wife, Ranjeet Ranjan, is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP.
“The honour that the entire Congress family has given is enough for us. Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have given us a lot of love,” Yadav, accompanied by his son Sarthak Ranjan and other party leaders at the AICC headquarters, said.
“If anyone has won the hearts of people in India, it is Rahul Gandhi and people love him. He has also raised the concerns of OBCs (Other Backward Classes) by raising the issue of holding a caste census. To save this country and its democracy and protect the Constitution, there was no other way except joining Rahul Gandhi’s fight against a dictator,” he added.
Yadav, who is also known as Rajesh Ranjan, had won the 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 16th Lok Sabha in a rare feat for a lawmaker of a small party. He entered the political arena in the 1990s and was also imprisoned for several years in connection with the killing of CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar in 1998. He was acquitted by the Patna high court in 2013.
However, a senior leader from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), an ally of the Congress in Bihar, said “Yadav’s induction into the Congress will not be as smooth as the party thinks”. “He is an opportunist and he can go to any extent to get his political ambition fulfilled,” the leader said, seeking anonymity.
Ali, who was suspended by the BSP in December for “anti-party” activities, also joined the Congress on Wednesday, days after he met Congress’s parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi on March 14. A sitting MP from Amroha, he is likely to get a Congress ticket from his constituency for the upcoming elections, people aware of the details said.
“On one side are divisive forces and on the other, are those forces fighting to get ‘nyay’ (justice) for the poor and oppressed sections of society, and the choice is very clear… If we have to fight the divisive forces, then one has to strengthen the Congress under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” Ali told a news briefing after joining the Congress in the national capital.
“The ideology with which we started our politics...we have to now strengthen the forces fighting those divisive forces. That is why I took this important decision while charting my future political journey by becoming a member of the Indian National Congress,” he added.
Once a right-hand man of former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Devegowda, Ali joined the BSP in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress also received a boost in Jammu & Kashmir when former MP Lal Singh joined the party at the AICC headquarters. He also announced the merger of his outfit, Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP), with the Congress.
Singh, according to the people cited above, is likely to be fielded against Union minister Jitendra Singh from Udhampur.
“We all have to work hard. I am grateful to the Congress party for taking me,” Singh, who was a two-time MP and three-time MLA, said.
“In 2004, everyone spoke about ‘Shining India’. Where is ‘Shining India’ now? I am a pure Dogra. I am not going to buckle down. I will work hard to bring back the old glory of the country. I know what J&K is, the big people don’t know what the state is all about. We will give a befitting reply to my opponent. The time has come for the Congress to return to power,” he added.
‘India Shining’ was a key slogan of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the run up to the 2004 general elections, but it failed to capture the discontent on the ground and Vajpayee lost the polls.
Meanwhile, Khaleque, sitting MP from Barpeta in Assam, who resigned from the Congress on March 15, returned to the fold on Wednesday.
In a letter to Kharge, Khaleque said: “Strengthening the Congress is the need of the hour, hence, I withdraw my resignation and wish to work under your and Rahul Gandhi’s able leadership.”
He added: “The central leadership of the party reached out to me because of which I could have a fruitful discussion with K C Venugopal.. as a sitting Lok Sabha member and two-time MLA, I understand the situation in the country. It is the duty and responsibility of every democratic and progressive person to strengthen the democratic forces.”
Khaleque had resigned on March 15 alleging non-redressal of his grievances by state party president Bhupen Borah and AICC state in-charge Jitendra Singh.
