An important session with Pappu Yadav, MP, Lok Sabha, on what strategies he employed in order to win as an independent candidate in such a difficult situation is brought to you by India News’ Manch. The discussion will also touch on what his strategy will be in the forthcoming Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections and why he said that he wanted to see Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister.
Manch offers a platform for high-level discussions on the major issues of the day, ranging from the new budget introduced by the newly formed NDA government to the recent issues that the country is facing to the plans for the future, of the Viksit Bharat of 2047 with the political elites of the country. Ms. Ananya Bedi, Senior Anchor for India News, serves as moderator for the event.
Lok Sabha MP, Pappu Yadav, also known as Rajesh Ranjan, is an INC politician from Bihar. As an Independent, SP, Lok Janata Party, RJD, and various other constituencies in Bihar, he won elections to the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2014. One of the ‘best performing’ MPs in 2015 was Pappu Yadav.
“Election is tough for independent candidates”
Anaya Bedi opened the floor with a question regarding Pappu Yadav’s lone victory from the Purnia Lok Sabha Constituency amidst the campaign that took place from both the NDA alliance as well as the INDIA alliance.
#IndiaNewsManch | ‘Politics is very different for people like me. It’s not an easy task. It’s easier for those who engage in Hindu-Muslim or caste-based politics’ says Purnia MP Pappu Yadav@pappuyadavjapl#ITVNetwork #IndiaNews #NewsX #Conclave #Congress #IndiaNewsManch… pic.twitter.com/KyIoJsv3R3
— NewsX World (@NewsX) July 29, 2024
Yadav responded by stating that he was an independent MP for the last four times, and in the current political landscape, contesting independently for people like him is very different. He mentioned that the Purnia region does not have a caste-based difference when it comes to casting votes, while Madipura, from which Pappu Yadav belongs, has a sixty percent caste based vote. “The election for an MP is very tough. Politics, altogether, is very different for people like me. It’s not an easy task. It’s easier for those who engage in Hindu-Muslim or caste-based politics, but for those who do not consider caste, creed, and Hindu-Muslim differentiation, politics becomes very difficult for them.”
He mentioned that earning through politics, or becoming a politician for a person from a powerful caste and becoming an independent candidate contesting the elections is very difficult. He further stated that he is always ready to serve the people and is available around the clock. “During COVID, I stood with the country; even when demonitization had taken place, I had opposed it. I had tweeted about it. In a country like India, where the economy is sustained on black money, demonization can not be successful.”
He added that India’s economy is centralized, and about ninety percent of India’s taxes come from the poor, farmers, people from the middle class, and businessmen from the middle class. He took the opportunity to criticise the so-called intellectuals and the politicians and stated that these people have a habit of running away from the common people’s problems. He also pointed out the problem of education mafias and medical mafias that have been consistently rising in the country,, which in turn has added pressure over the common people belonging to the middle class and below.
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Yadav on NEET
Talking about the NEET issue, Ananya pointed out that Yadav had been upset about the issue and had tweeted about it, to which Pappu stated that he wasn’t upset. He stated that while taking the oath of office during the formation of the cabinet under Modi 3.0, he had talked about the two serious issues, including the NEET paper leak, to which he was countered by Kiren Rijiju, who told him that the time was not right to talk about the subjects. He claimed that to become an independent MP, you have to separate yourself between caste, creed, and religion, and you have to think and work for the people.
Ananya Bedi further questioned him about a picture that had surfaced previously during elections, where Pappu Yadav could be seen meeting Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav after merging his party with the Congress party, She asked him what they spoke about, and he was able to understand that he was not going to get a ticket from Purnia.
Pappu Yadav responded that he wanted to fight for his own party when Priyanka Gandhi asked him to join Congress, which upset Lalu Yadav. He added that he did not need support from Lalu Yadav in return for the support that he had offered in the 1990s, the only support he needed was that of the poor and the middle class, even if his ticket got cancelled because of Lalu Prasad Yadav.
He mentioned that he did not ask for votes from the rich or the upper classes, like the doctors or the powerful people in society, since they often take money from the poor and the middle class in the name of increasing the cost of medicines.
“Rahul Gandhi could become the Prime Minister”
Ananya then questioned Yadav about his distance from Lalu Yadav. She asked him how that the two who were very close previously, became so distant, to which Yadav responded that if INDIA alliance could win with majority in a state it was Bihar, and Rahul Gandhi could easily become the Prime Minister, but his ego stopped him. ” If they wanted, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi could give me the ticket,” he added that he didn’t believe in winning or losing, he only wanted to work for the poor and the needy.
The conversation steered in the direction of the budget that was released recently when Ananya asked what budget was allotted for Bihar, since Mallikarjun Kharge had announced that a huge budget was allotted for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
Pappu Yadav took the opportunity to mention that there were a lot of promises made by the center to provide capital to the state of Bihar across different sectors; however, none of the promises were fulfilled, there was no package that was given to Bihar and the state did not receive anything, which led to the closure of multiple factories across the various sectors, including jute, food processing, sugar, cigarette factories, and several others.
While concluding, Yadav highlighted that without the support of even 30 MPs, Prime Minister would be removed from the post. He added that it is because of the people of Bihar that these 30 people are members of Parliament.
