Video: Pappu Yadav, Kanhaiya Kumar Stopped From Boarding Van With Rahul Gandhi
In a potential embarrassment for the Congress, its leader Kanhaiya Kumar and Purnia MP Pappu Yadav were stopped from boarding an open van which had Rahul Gandhi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and some other senior politicians on it.
During the INDIA bloc's 'Bihar Bandh' protests against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls on Wednesday, Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav were about to climb the stairs to the van when they were stopped by some personnel who were in charge of ensuring the security of Mr Gandhi and the other leaders. Videos of both leaders being stopped are now being widely shared.
In one of the videos, Mr Yadav can be seen trying to climb the stairs and was even being helped by someone before he was stopped. Other leaders can be seen being allowed on board, but when Mr Kumar's turn comes, he is stopped too.
It is unclear why the two leaders were not allowed to board the van. The JDU-led ruling alliance in Bihar has, however, already hit out at the opposition INDIA bloc and said the incident indicates that leaders like Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav are not treated well by the Congress and its senior members like Mr Gandhi.
Mr Gandhi, who is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Tejashwi Yadav, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani and some other INDIA bloc leaders were taking out a protest in Patna from the Income Tax roundabout to the Election Commission office.
The leaders were initially marching on foot but a decision was taken to continue the rally in the open van after the crowd started to become very large.
Kanhaiya Kumar, who is originally from Bihar, was the Congress candidate for the North East Delhi constituency in last year's Lok Sabha elections. He lost to Manoj Tiwari of the BJP.
Pappu Yadav, aka Rajesh Ranjan, had merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year but had contested - and won - from Purnia as an Independent after the constituency went to the RJD in the seat-sharing negotiations. His wife, Ranjeet Ranjan, is a Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress.
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