New Delhi : Following the Supreme Court’s decision to revive the criminal conspiracy charges against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case, Janata Dal-United (JD(U)) on Monday appeared to throw its weight behind the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief.
JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi told ANI that the apex court ruling would not bring any difference in the political scenario between both the parties.
“There will be no differences in the political scenario between both the parties even after the SC’s ruling against him. The charges were there against Lalu ji when we formed an alliance with his party and there is no change in the politics of JD(U) now,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lalu’s counsel Ram Jethmalani expressed confidence, saying they would win the case on both, merits as well as limitations.
“In this case, even an adverse decision only means that the appeal will be heard, not that it has been allowed. Let it be heard. We will win on both, merits as well as limitations,” Jethmalani told ANI.
Hitting out at the opposition for celebrating the apex court’s decision, Jethmalani said neither did he pay any heed to ‘stupid’ politicians, nor did he wish to react to them.
In a major setback to Lalu, the apex court yesterday revived the criminal conspiracy charges against the former Bihar chief minister and others in the fodder scam case.
The two-judge bench also ruled that the trail has to be completed within nine months.
The apex court allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s order of dropping charges against Lalu in the case.
In 2014, the Jharkhand High Court had given relief to the RJD supremo and others by dropping charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and prevention of corruption in the fodder scam.
Around 53 cases were registered for embezzlement of funds on the pretext of buying fodder for cattle.
The High Court had earlier quashed the cases on grounds that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidences.
However, the CBI had contended that though the cases have arisen from the fodder scam, they are different in nature as different amounts were involved from different treasuries.
The fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of around Rs. 1,000 crore by the Animal Husbandry department from various districts when Lalu was the Bihar chief minister from 1990 to 1997.