‘Those Who Are With Lalu Now Are the Ones Who Filed Cases Against Him’: Bihar CM

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that his government refused to be a part of the corruption case against Lalu Yadav.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi on Monday, 21 February, sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 60 lakh.

Reacting to the sentence, the RJD leader's son, Tejashwi Yadav, said that they have challenged it in the high court.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister (CM) Nitish Kumar said on Monday that his government refused to be a part of the corruption case against Lalu Yadav saying that it was not his job.

He said that "some who complained against Lalu are with him today,"t referring to former Janata Dal (United) (JDU) leader Shivanand Tiwari who switched to RJD, as reported by NDTV.

Tiwari was one of the complainants in the case.

Not naming anyone, Kumar said:

“We've not registered cases against him. The people who are with him now are the only ones who registered cases against him. Those people also came to me but I said no. I said you want to file a case you can do but it's not my work.”

Nitish Kumar

Meanwhile, reacting to Lalu’s jail sentence, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad said that the people of the country have faith in the judicial system of our country, reported news agency ANI.

He said, “CBI court has given its verdict on the fifth fodder scam case. We Indians have faith in the judicial system of our country.”

Referring to Tejashwi Yadav’s statement earlier that the verdict was the consequence of fighting the BJP and the RSS, Prasad said, “Before giving any statement about BJP, Tejashwi Yadav should look within himself.”

Rajya Sabha MP and former deputy CM of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi said that no one is surprised by the jail sentence and added that “it had to happen.”

He tweeted in Hindi on Monday, 21 February, and said:

“No one was surprised by Lalu Yadav's sentence of 5 years and a fine of 60 lakhs. It had to happen. Laluji's chargesheet was done at the time of Dev Gowdaji and the first punishment was done at the time of Manmohan Singhji. But they will sing the same melody that he was falsely trapped.”

(With inputs from ANI and NDTV.)