The tall claims of development in Bihar by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are false and he has done nothing for the state except helping corrupt officials and mafias during his tenure, Jan Adhikar Party chief Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, the controversial former MP who was last year acquitted in the murder of a CPI-M leader, has said.
"Nitish has done no development and whatever he claims has no truth in it. Corruption has hit a new high in the state, there is no law and order at all," Yadav told IANS in an interview.
"He played the chief minister who always helped the corrupt bureaucrats and mafias and it was due to that he ran the government for 10 years. The people of Bihar have suffered due to his political ambitions," added Yadav, who was previously expelled from Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Asked about the number of seats he was planning to contest in the upcoming state polls, Yadav, once considered a close aide of Lalu Prasad, said: "We have not decided on the exact number of seats we want to contest on. We just want to serve the people of Bihar no matter how many seats we manage to fight on."
"I have made a party not do petty politics but bring a change in the state that has been looted by earlier governments. I have always stood for the people of Bihar and will continue to do that till my last breath," he added.
Talking about former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Yadav said he was used by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar for their ends. He said they had humiliated Manjhi.
On the reports of him aligning with Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and floating a third front to challenge the NDA and the RJD-JD(U)-Congress grand alliance, he said: "I have no ideological differences with SP chief Mulayam Singh-ji. I have been a Samajwadi Party MP from Purnea.
"We have worked together in the past as well. If everything goes well, we can form the third front. Nothing is finalized as of now."
However, NCP leader Tariq Anwar told IANS that the SP-NCP alliance was finalized and that Pappu Yadav was ready to align with them.
The alliance may see Anwar as its chief ministerial candidate.
Yadav said if voted to power he would address the law and order problems at the earliest and ban the sale of liquor across the state within seven days.
He also expressed his disappointment with the 'Bahubali' tag that he has been given.
"Just because I come from a royal Yadav family and serve the youth of Bihar, people call me a Bahubali. It disappoints me a lot. I don't know why people have given me this tag. I just want to ask is there not criminal cases against other top leaders? Aren't there cases against Amit Shah? Why don't people call him a Bahubali," he asked.
Asked about his controversial comment on people from Manipur, he said: "I have said nothing wrong. It disturbs me when people from northern India, especially Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, are targeted in Manipur. We cannot have different treatment for people in the same country."
"If the situation does not improve or violence against Bihari migrants continues in Manipur, we will forcibly pull out Manipuri passengers from trains running through Bihar and send them back to Manipur," Yadav had said.
Yadav won thrice from Purnia - 1991, 1996 and 1999 - and won the 2004 Madhepura bypolls.
Last year, citing lack of evidence, the Patna High Court acquitted Yadav in a case related to the killing Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Ajit Sarkar in May 1998.
His wife, Ranjita Ranjan, is also a former MP.(Prashant Kumar can be contacted at prashant.k@ians.in)
