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Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, Rajesh Ranjan, aka Pappu Yadav, merged his Jan Adhikar Party and formally joined the Congress on Wednesday.

The 5-time MP joined the grand old party in Delhi in the presence of AICC incharge of Bihar Mohan Prakash, party leader Pawan Khera and legislative party leader in the Bihar assembly Shakeel Ahmed Khan. His son Sarthak Ranjan and other party leaders accompanied him.

Pappu's wife Ranjeet Ranjan is a Congress Rajya Sabha member from Chhattisgarh. The party may field Pappu Yadav from the Purnea LS constituency.

Known for his influence in the Seemanchal and Kosi regions, the former MP's political graph was on the decline. During the 2020 Bihar assembly poll, his party was part of the Progressive Democratic Alliance, which did not win any seat.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pappu met RJD chief Lalu Yadav and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi in Patna. He was expelled from RJD in 2015 for anti-party activities. He founded JAP after his expulsion and fought against the RJD-JD(U) alliance.

His entry could help the Congress revive its political fortune, particularly in the Kosi and Seemanchal regions. It will help the grand alliance consolidate Yadav votes in the two regions in the LS election.

Pappu Yadav was elected to the Bihar assembly for the first time in 1990 as an independent candidate. He won the LS elections in 1991, 1996 and 1999 from Purnea as an independent candidate. In the 2004 parliamentary election, he won from Madhepura on an RJD ticket. In 2009, he was barred from contesting the poll after he was convicted in the murder of CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar. He was released from prison in May 2013 after the Patna High Court upheld his appeal and acquitted him. He proceeded to win the 2014 LS election from Madhepura on an RJD ticket, defeating the then JD(U) president Sharad Yadav.