NEW DELHI: BJP today welcomed the conviction of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam case by a special CBI court in Ranchi while Congress said that law has taken its course.
“The court has delivered a verdict taking cognisance of the free hand given to loot the treasure of Bihar, we welcome the judgment,” said BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain.
Reacting to the verdict, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Today, the law has taken its own course. All those who commit corruption with impunity need to understand that law will catch up with you. I am sure it will also catch up with those who are with the government of India.”
The ruling Congress party also said that law has taken its own course.
“I have respect for the judgement given by the court as law does not discriminate between person to person. Law has taken its own course. We have respect for the court,” party leader Rashid Alvi said.
In Patna, Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi hailed the verdict pronouncing Prasad, former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others guilty in the multi-crore fodder scam case 17 years ago.
“Lalu has got what he had sown ….. Boya pedh (tree) babul ka to phool (flower) kahan se hoi (how could he get flower when he had sown a tree of thorn?)” he tweeted after the CBI court judge P K Singh pronounced the order.
“He got what he deserved,” Modi, who was the original petitioner in the Patna High Court in the fodder scam in 1990s, said.
Modi, a former deputy chief minister of Bihar, lavished praised on former CBI officer U.N. Biswas, at present a Minister in the West Bengal government, for making a foolproof case in the fodder scam and gave him the whole credit for conviction of the RJD supremo and others. Describing the Ranchi court judgement as historic, BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the scam involved two former Chief Ministers of Bihar–Prasad, who is a part of the UPA coalition, and Mishra, who belonged to Congress.
“We have seen in the last decade Lalu Prasad has been making political compromises with the UPA government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He survived and escaped from the law and has survived to be in government and has been playing political games,” he said.
Rudy alleged that Prasad had used his political association with Congress to protect himself and survived the charges of corruption.
RJD MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that Prasad’s conviction would not have an adverse impact on the party’s fortunes.
“RJD has been a party of the downtrodden and weaker sections and will remain strong and united even after conviction of our leader. All party workers will work together in his absence,” he said.
Singh, who has been a pillar of strength for the RJD supremo for nearly two decades, side-stepped a question on whether the party will accept the leadership of Prasad’s son Tejaswi Yadav.
Tejaswi, he said, was like any other worker in the party even as there were “any number of leaders” in it.
JVM (P) supremo Babulal Marandi said in Jamshedpur the outcome of the scam involving Prasad would not have any impact on Jharkhand politics because RJD did not have much influence in the state.
Marandi, a former Jharkhand chief minister, said RJD had never gained a full majority and had run the government even in Bihar with the allies in the past.
He alleged the judgement would send out a strong message that the judiciary would not spare the guilty even after almost two decades.-PTI
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