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

Pappu has won accolades from all sections of society for working tirelessly for Covid patients in Bihar

Former Lok Sabha member and president of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) Pappu Yadav, who exposed BJP MP and former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy for keeping around 30 ambulances in his parliamentary constituency unused, has been arrested by Patna Police on Tuesday “for violating Covid guidelines”.

“Pappu has been visiting different hospitals and meeting patients and their relatives without valid permission. He has been booked under the Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Act for violating Covid guidelines,” said Kaisar Alam, the officer-in-charge (O-C) of Buddha Colony police station, soon after Pappu’s arrest.

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Pappu, who has been a five-term MP before he lost the 2019 parliamentary polls, has, of late, won accolades from all sections of the society for working for Covid patients throughout the state. He and his team members have been providing food, shelter, financial assistance (to the needy), besides arranging oxygen cylinders and beds in the hospitals for the afflicted patients.

“Only Nitish Kumar can say why I have been arrested. So far as I know, one cannot be arrested simply for violating Covid guidelines,” said Pappu, while being taken to the police station.

Pappu’s arrest evoked sharp reactions from the ruling NDA as well as Opposition parties. “If you arrest a person who is working day and night for the well-being of common man, then this is highly deplorable. Such police action is a threat to humanity,” said former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is a ruling ally in the state.

Another NDA ally and a minister in the Nitish Cabinet, Mukesh Sahni, opposed such arrest and put the Bihar Chief Minister in the dock by terming the police action as “insensitive”.

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The main Opposition parties RJD, Congress and the CPI-ML also lashed out at Nitish for Pappu Yadav's arrest, who has been "exposing" BJP leaders, bureaucrats and doctors during coronavirus crisis.

In the latest instance, Pappu had stormed into Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s constituency (in Saran) on Saturday and exposed how around 30 ambulances were lying unused during the Covid crisis.

Rudy later clarified that the ambulances, all purchased through MPLAD fund, were not being used as there were no drivers available.