Bihar Grand Alliance will remain intact: JD(U)
The Supreme Court’s verdict to revive conspiracy charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and others in multi-crore fodder scam cases will not create any political crisis in Bihar, political experts said.
According to them, the Grand Alliance would remain unscathed as the verdict is part of the ongoing trial of the cases.
In a setback to Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the RJD leader will stand separate trial in all four fodder scam cases as it set aside the Jharkhand High Court order which had dropped conspiracy charges against him.
A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy directed the trial court to complete the proceedings against 68-year-old Yadav and others within nine months. “We have held that for each offence there will be a separate trial,” the bench said. The fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 900 crore by the Animal Husbandry Department from various district when Lalu was the chief minister.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and former state Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraborty are also accused in the case. The apex court, while setting aside the 2014 high court order which had stayed the trial against Yadav after conviction in one of the cases, said the high court should have been consistent in its findings and not have given different views for different sets of accused in a case.
It also pulled up the CBI for delay in filing the appeal against the high court order in the case and said the probe agency’s Director should have looked into this important matter and deputed an officer to pursue the case.
The charges are in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 96 lakh during the chief ministerial tenure of the RJD chief.
“Soon after the Supreme Court's verdict was pronounced, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders of Bihar unit started celebrating and even suggested that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should break away from the Mahagathbandgan (Grand Alliance), of which RJD is a key constituent. They are portraying Kumar as the companion of a “fodder scamster” which is not true by any means,” said Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.
Accusing the BJP leaders of misleading the people, the JD(U) leader said, “When the alliance was forged, it was done in public domain, keeping nothing in secret. They (BJP) have also dragged in people like Jagdish Sharma, RK Rana and Jagannath Mishra into the fodder scam. Aap karien to ram ram aur hum karein to jeena haraam (If you do then it's right and when we do then it's immoral).” “Since our alliance is Bihar-centric and was proven model of good governance, suggestions of a break in the Grand Alliance are mischievous as we are serving the mandate of people of the state,” he added.
Political experts have opined that the BJP is targeting Nitish by using the “bad record” of Lalu as the saffron party believes that the Chief Minister may pose a tough challenge in the 2019 general elections.