Law equal for all, say BJP & ally JD (U) after Lalu verdict

NEW DELHI/PATNA: No one is above the law, the BJP and its ally JD (U) said on Saturday after a special CBI court sentenced Lalu Prasad to jail in a fodder scam case, while the RJD said its leader has fallen prey to a "conspiracy" by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party.

The special CBI court in Ranchi sentenced Lalu to three- and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in the fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago. BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the verdict shows the law is equal for all.

"The court has done its job, and this is a message that if anyone robs the country of its wealth, however important, then the law is equal for all. This is justice for the people of Bihar because it was their money that was looted," Hussain told reporters.

Janata Dal (United) Secretary General K C Tyagi said a new political chapter has begun with the court's decision and it means politicians will be afraid of committing any such wrongdoing.

"It will now be difficult to keep the RJD together and people in politics will be fearful," he said, when asked about the significance of the court's verdict.

"This is the end of a chapter that started with Laluji's leadership, where there was politics of corruption, nepotism and non-governance," Tyagi told reporters.

Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the CBI court at Ranchi, by sentencing Lalu Prasad to jail in a fodder scam case, had upheld the charges he and others had levelled against the RJD supremo before the Patna High Court. The senior BJP leader also rubbished the “conspiracy” allegation levelled by the RJD against his party in connection with Prasad's conviction by the court.

“In the PIL filed in the Patna High Court, Shivanand Tiwary, Lalan Singh and I had levelled the charges against Lalu Prasad with solid evidence. By awarding punishment to him, the court has upheld our charges,” Modi said here in a statement.