Opinion

The Pappu Can바카라t Pass

The former MP and don바카라s work for the Covid-hit is interrupted by his arrest in a 1989 kidnapping case

The Pappu Can바카라t Pass
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Don바카라t stop helping people, even if you have to sell off everything.바카라 This was the parting message to family and friends from former five-term MP Rajesh ­Ranjan, better known as Pappu Yadav, when Bihar police were taking him away in a 32-year-old kidnapping case recently. Anybody familiar with Pappu바카라s eventful past as a bahubali바카라he was once sentenced to life imprisonment for CPI(M) legislator Ajit Sarkar바카라s murder바카라would find it hard to see the don바카라s metamorphosis into a crusader fighting against an 바카라unjust system바카라 and 바카라unscrupulous ­politicians바카라. So infamous were Pappu바카라s exploits, both in and out of prison, that actor Sonu Sood sought to take tips from him after he was signed to play bahubali Chhedi Singh in Salman Khan바카라s 2010 blockbuster Dabangg. Ten years later, both Sonu and Pappu hit the headlines for playing good ­samaritans during the Covid pande­mic. While Sonu remains a much-admi­red hero, Pappu has landed behind bars, with a 1989 case returning to haunt him. After being sent to judicial custody for 14 days, Pappu has been in the ICU of a hospital in Darbhanga.

바카라There is a conspiracy to infect me with Covid in jail,바카라 he alleges. 바카라I have been arrested because of political vendetta. Apart from highlighting the tottering health infrastructure in Bihar, I had recently exposed a BJP MP.바카라 A few days before his arrest, Pappu and his men had raided a community centre in local BJP MP and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy바카라s Saran Lok Sabha constituency and found 30 ­unused ambulances with stickers bearing Rudy바카라s name, allegedly purchased with funds from the MP Local Area Development Fund Scheme.

바카라When there is an acute shortage of ambulances and people are forced to pay as much as Rs 12,000 a kilometre to take Covid patients to hospitals, this is criminal negligence,바카라 he said, accusing Rudy of keeping 100 ambulances for his own interest. When Rudy said the ambulances were not being used due to a shortage of drivers, Pappu lined up dozens of drivers willing to be hired for the job. Patna police took the former MP into custody soon after바카라for violating lockdown guidelines when he went to 바카라expose바카라 the condition of Patna Medical College Hospital. Madhepura police reached Patna the same evening with a warrant to arrest him in connection with the 1989 case.

Pappu바카라s supporters allege he was ­apprehended because he was not only exposing Bihar바카라s pathetic health ­infrastructure, but also providing ­oxygen cylinders and life-saving medicines to Covid-hit families. His rivals, however, hark back to his criminal ­antecedents. 바카라Every criminal sitting in a temple does not become a saint,바카라 says Rudy, who accuses Pappu of ­hiding details of many criminal cases in the affidavit he filed with his nomination papers from the Madhepura seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

There is no denying that Pappu has been on an overdrive to change his image ever since the Patna High Court acquitted him in 2013 in the Ajit Sarkar murder case. The lower court had earlier convicted him for the 1998 killing of the CPI(M) MLA in Purnia. When he was in jail, Pappu had set up a youth organisation called Yuva Shakti, which did commendable relief work during the 2008 Kosi floods. His ­altruistic mission gained momentum after he came out of prison.

Apparently inspired by Akshay Kumar바카라s movie Gabbar Is Back (2015), Pappu once launched a statewide ­campaign against doctors charging ­exorbitant fees from poor people. In 2019, during the floods in Patna, he waded through waist-deep water to ­provide succour to marooned people for several days. None of his philanthropic deeds, however, has paid him dividends in any of the elections he has fought since he shed his bahubali skin.

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