A day after he quit the Lok Janshakti Party, controversial former member of Parliament Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Tuesday joined Bihar's ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and was promptly rewarded with a ticket to contest the by-poll to the Madhepura Lok Sabha seat.

Earlier in the day, Pappu Yadav secured a bail from the Patna high court in connection with the killing of Communist Party of India-Marxist legislator Ajit Sarkar in 1998.

RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who along with his family members is on a tour of south India, said in Thiruvananthapuram that Pappu Yadav would be his party's nominee from Madhepura, the seat he vacated to retain Chapra.

Lalu Yadav had defeated his nearest Janata Dal-United rival Sharad Yadav from the seat by a margin of over 60,000 votes.

Pappu Yadav had lost the last Lok Sabha election from Purnea to a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate by a margin of around 10,000 votes.

His wife Ranjita Ranjan, however, won from the adjoining Saharsa constituency.