Overwhelmed with the news of former Bihar Chief Minister lalu Prasad getting bail from the Supreme Court, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) workers on Friday fired crackers and distributed sweets among the people in the State capital to commemorate the occasion.
Water Resources Minister Annapurna Devi, Urban Development Minister Suresh Paswan and MlA Sanjay Yadav along with several supporters immediately rushed to Birsa Munda Central Jail on Friday to congratulate their leader. Chief Minister Hemant Soren also hailed the decision and said lalu ji got relief from the Supreme Court who completed all the procedures of court according to the law.
Elated RJD leaders said it was quite obvious that lalu would be coming out of jail very soon as he was innocent. “This is a victory of justice… we had faith in the court and had confidence that lalu ji will get bail soon,” said Annapurna Devi. There is already a wave against JD-U in Bihar and we hope that RJD will perform well in Jharkhand also in the forthcoming elections, she added.
Suresh Paswan said, “It will boost up the morale of the party workers and they will put in their 100 per cent for the party work.” As there were annoyances among the people due to framing of lalu ji by the CBI, we will definitely get sympathy of the voters this time,” he added. Hailing the court’s decision, RJD MlA Janardan Paswan also said that a new equation will soon be coming up after lalu ji comes out of jail.
Congress leaders also looked excited after lalu got bail from the Apex court. Expressing happiness, State Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat said, “Since lalu has been a symbol of secular forces in the country, his coming out of jail will definitely give strength to us. Secular forces are with us and we hope that lalu ji will also join it and strengthen the force.
Former Speaker CP Singh, on the other hand, said that no one will be getting any mileage in the forthcoming elections in view of the wave favouring Narendra Modi,. “The law has done its work and the court has granted bail to him but he has not yet been acquitted of the allegations against him,” he added. Jharkhand Vikas Morcha MlA Pradeep Yadav said, “Congratulations to lalu ji but he has already lost his membership in Parliament.”
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to RJD chief, currently lodged at Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi for the last two months after being awarded a five-year jail term in the multi-crore fodder scam case. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi granted bail to lalu on the ground that several other similarly placed convicts have already been granted bail in the case. The court however, left it to the trial court to decide the bail bonds, sureties and other conditions to be imposed on lalu. A special CBI court on October 3 had sentenced rigorous imprisonment of five years and slapped a fine of Rs 25 lakh to lalu.
The 69-year-old lalu automatically lost his lok Sabha seat and stood disqualified as an MP barred from contesting election for the next 11 years following his sentencing. He later moved to the Supreme Court for relief. lalu is likely to come out of jail on Monday.