PATNA/MADHEPURA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today refused to comment on a CBI court order convicting his bete noire Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam but his party JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said the RJD chief was “paying” for “looting the government treasury” for his personal greed and it is a lesson for others.
“I do not wish to make any comment on a court order,” Kumar told reporters when asked for his reaction on his rival Lalu Prasad’s conviction by CBI court in Ranchi in the multi-crore scam.
Bihar minister P K Shahi, who was a petitioner against the RJD chief in the case, also did not comment on the court order. “No comments,” Shahi told PTI when contacted.
JD (U) President Sharad Yadav, however, said one has to pay for one’s own wrongdoing.
“We feel bad but law is law for everybody…. If you do wrong you will be punished definitely…. Law is equal for everybody,” he told reporters at Madhepura, his Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.
The JD (U) chief said that he and other socialist leaders had helped people like Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar to emerge as leaders of the weaker sections after Karpoori Thakur to work for the welfare of the poor.
“But he (Prasad) after becoming chief minister of Bihar started looting the government treasury for his family and personal greed and today he is paying for it.”
“Though the court order has come after 16 years it has upheld and law,” Sharad Yadav said adding, “It is a lesson for others who consider power as means to fulfil personal greed”. Speaking in the same vein, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the greed for wealth.
“I heard Lalu Prasad Yadav has been sent to jail after being convicted by a CBI court. What is the use of being greedy for one or two days because it may ruin your tomorrow,” she told a Trinamool Congress general council meeting here.
Banerjee said she was satisfied with a plate of fish and wearing simple clothes. “We are here today and gone tomorrow. For whom will you leave your wealth? There is no end to this.”
The Chief Minister recalled that her parents could not afford to buy books when she was in school but nevertheless paid attention to education.
“Now, our brothers and sisters are better off. Our parents have given them a good schooling. They are doing well,” she said.-PTI
