IANS/New Delhi


Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagdish Sharma of the Janata Dal (United) were yesterday disqualified from the Lok Sabha following their conviction in the fodder scam, an official said.
Yadav, an MP from Bihar’s Saran district, and Sharma who represented Jahanabad in Bihar are the first Lok Sabha members to be disqualified after a Supreme Court order.
The court on July 10 ordered the immediate disqualification from parliament and state legislatures of lawmakers convicted for criminal offences punishable with a jail term of more than two years.
Congress leader Rasheed Masood was on Monday disqualified from the Rajya Sabha, following his conviction in a corruption case.
On September 30, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court convicted Yadav, Sharma and others in a case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs370mn from Chaibasa treasury in the then undivided Bihar during 1994-95 when the RJD leader was the chief minister.
Special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh sentenced Yadav to five years’ imprisonment and slapped a Rs2.5mn fine on him.
The RJD chief is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, the Jharkhand capital where the special CBI court tried and convicted him.
Meanwhile, Yadav’s wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi said she was hopeful that the Congress would join hands with the RJD to strengthen secular alliance in Bihar for the 2014 general elections.
“I am hopeful and confident that Congress will join hands with the RJD for the next Lok sabha polls,” Rabri Devi said soon after her husband was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
She said the RJD is always keen on an alliance with the Congress to minimise splitting of secular votes in Bihar.
Without naming the Congress, Rabri Devi said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s game of playing the secular card needs to be understood.
“Nitish Kumar dumped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for Muslim votes. People understand this and everyone should realise it. Nitish Kumar is trying to become a secular leader for last few months,” she said.
Rabri Devi claimed that the RJD has been getting the overwhelming support of people after Yadav was jailed.
“After Chhath (the most popular festival in Bihar), I will tour the state from November to inform people about the conspiracy to victimise Laluji and mobilise them for the party,” she said.
Yadav’s trusted alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan yesterday met Rabri Devi.
“Paswan met Rabri Devi for the first time after Lalu was convicted. This meeting is a significant move to strengthen secular alliance in Bihar,” an RJD leader close to Rabri Devi said.
He refused to divulge more about their meeting.
Paswan has publicly expressed his stand for an alliance with the Congress, RJD and his party to defeat the BJP in the next general elections.
The buzz in political circles in Bihar is that Nitish Kumar is soft towards the Congress and is in favour of an alliance with the Congress to counter the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Nitish Kumar has hinted time and again that he would support a party that would grant special category status to Bihar - in fulfilment of his long-standing demand.
Nitish Kumar declined to give a straight answer when asked about an alliance with the Congress.