Tejashwi slams BJP, vows to oust NDA from power
A pall of gloom descended on 10 Circular Road residence of former chief minister Rabri Devi on Saturday soon after a court in Ranchi handed over 14-year jail term to her husband and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief chief Lalu Prasad.
The first family of the RJD remained indoors throughout the day. In the evening, however, Prasad’s son and leader of the opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav held a meeting with party leaders and asked them to work for the party with all sincerity and not get disheartened by court verdict.
Earlier in the day, a CBI court in Ranchi sentenced Prasad to 14 years in jail and fined ₹60 lakh in connection with the fourth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal from Dumka treasury in the early 1990s.
CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh awarded two separate sentences of seven years each to Prasad under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Acts and said both the sentences would run consecutively.
While, Rabri Devi stayed away from the media, Tejashwi put up a brave front after the verdict and lashed out at the BJP for “hatching a conspiracy” to keep the RJD chief behind bars “so that the saffron party-led alliance can win the next Lok Sabha polls with ease”.
“Laluji is the biggest threat for the BJP and they fear that his release will facilitate the formation of a grand alliance at the national level. This is why, he is in jail,” said Tejashwi, adding that his father would emerge innocent in the people’s court.
Tejashwi also maintained his father also faced threat to his life with the BJP hatching a conspiracy to keep him behind bars and defame his family.
“I fear for my father’s life because the BJP is all out to hatch
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a conspiracy against him and our family. They are scared of us,” he said.
The leader of opposition also appealed to RJD leaders and workers to remain united, asserting that the party would oust the National Democratic Allaince (NDA) government, in which BJP and JD(U) are partners, from power in Bihar. “We will not rest till we oust the NDA government ,” he said.
Bihar BJP leaders, however, reacted strongly to Tejashwi’s comments. The RJD chief had a paid a price for his own doing, they said. “Whatever Lalu has done, he is paying a price for it,” said senior BJP leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh in Patna.
Senior BJP leader and Bihar minister Nand Kishore Yadav dismissed Tejashwi’s allegations of conspiracy against the RJD chief, saying Prasad was made accused in the fodder scam case when the BJP was not in power.
SHATRUGHAN SINHA MEETS LALU AT RIMS
Actor and BJP MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, on Saturday met RJD chief Lalu Prasad at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, where the latter is admitted since March 17. The meeting came hours after the former Bihar chief minister was awarded 14 years of imprisonment in a fodder scam case.
Sinha, who was accompanied by senior Congress leader and former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahai, said that the meeting with Prasad was not political.
“We are like family. So, I came here to meet him as he is unwell,” Sinha told the media outside RIMS. Sinha is in the Jharkhand capital to attend a private function.
Prasad was admitted in the cardiology wing of the premiere government hospital at around 5pm on March 17 after he complained of discomfort.