Pappu Yadav opposes Lalu's merger plan

RJD Lok Sabha member Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Tuesday revolted against party chief Lalu Prasad's announcement of the likely merger of the six parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar.

Pappu Yadav, the parliament member from Madhepura constituency, threatened to quit the Rashtriya Janata Dal if the merger takes place.

"I am against the merger of the RJD with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United in Bihar.

"If the RJD and the JD-U along with other parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar formally announce their merger, I will quit the RJD," he said.

Pappu Yadav, who had defeated JD-U president Sharad Yadav in the Lok Sabha polls, is one of the four RJD Lok Sabha members.

He said Lalu Prasad was "trying to promote dynastic politics", and Nitish Kumar has been promoting corruption and has pushed Bihar into a bad phase.

When Lalu Prasad had said on Sunday that the merger was almost complete and only a formal announcement was to be made, Pappu Yadav had supported him at the time.

He had then told the media that he was with his party chief's decision on the merger.

Pappu Yadav was acquitted in 2013 by the Patna High Court in the murder of Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Ajit Sarkar in May 1998 due to lack of evidence.