Now, JD(U) & BJP leaders oppose Pappu Yadav’s arrest

NDA, Opposition urge Nitish to release former MP who had been helping Covid-19 patients

Senior JD(U) leader and former minister Monazir Hassan on Wednesday slammed his own NDA Government for arresting ex-MP Pappu Yadav. “BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy and the Chapra District Magistrate should have been arrested, not Pappu Yadav,” said Hassan, one of the close aides of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“Pappu has been helping Covid patients tirelessly for the last one month, providing them food and cash, besides arranging oxygen cylinders and beds for those afflicted with coronavirus,” said Hassan, who earlier served as Nitish’s Cabinet colleague in the previous regime.

“In fact, Pappu did the right thing by exposing how a BJP MP had parked around 50 ambulances, all purchased through MPLAD fund, and were lying unused at a time when Covid patients were being carried on cart, rickshaw, cycle and two-wheelers in the absence of adequate ambulances,” said Hassan, who was earlier the JD(U) MP from Begusarai.

Read | Three days after exposing BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Pappu Yadav arrested

“Pappu’s arrest is unfortunate. He should be released immediately,” opined senior BJP MLC Rajneesh Kumar, echoing Hassan’s sentiments.

A day back, two other NDA allies Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni too had protested Pappu’s arrest. The Opposition RJD, Congress and the CPI-ML have also lashed out at Nitish for apprehending Pappu.

Pappu, was a five-term Lok Sabha MP before losing 2019 parliamentary polls, was arrested by Patna police on Tuesday after being charged with violating Covid guidelines. Late on Tuesday evening, he was taken to Madhepura, his erstwhile parliamentary constituency, where he was produced before a local court in the midnight.

Midnight court

“The civil court in Madhepura was convened at 11.30 pm in the late night where the Bihar police slapped Pappu with a 32-year-old case lodged at Madhepura in 1989. The local judge Surabhi Srivastava remanded Pappu Yadav to 14 days of judicial custody,” said a senior official in Madhepura, adding that Pappu was put behind bars in Birpur jail in Supaul district in the midnight.

Pappu's wife warns Nitish

Meanwhile, Pappu’s wife and former Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan on Wednesday warned Nitish that if something happened to Pappu, while being in custody, he (Bihar CM) will be held directly responsible. “Pappu had undergone operation recently. Still, he had been moving from one hospital to another providing relief to hundreds of Covid patients. If something happens to him, I will hold you responsible,” said Ranjeet, the two-term Lok Sabha MP from Supaul.