Patna: Embattled Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad on Saturday received support from unexpected quarters.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up attacks on the incarcerated RJD chief, after he was sentenced to 14 years in jail in the fourth fodder scam case, a top party parliamentarian and prominent Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha rushed to a hospital in Ranchi to meet Prasad and wish him a speedy recovery.
Prasad has been admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science, Ranchi, for the past one week after he complained of severe heath complications.
“He is a grass roots leader and we are like a family. I had gone there to know about his well being. I am happy that he is maintaining a high confidence,” Sinha told the media after meeting Prasad. He heaped further praises on the RJD president saying he has the blessings of the masses.
He also described Prasad as the “son of the soil” and a “mass leader” and wished him for speedy recovery.
The rebel BJP leader, who went to meet Prasad in the company of Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay and Samajwadi Party leader Kiranmaya Nanda, also called for the shifting of the RJD chief to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AAIMS), New Delhi, for better treatment.
The development comes as a major embarrassment to the BJP which launched attacks on the RJD chief over corruption after a CBI court served the lengthiest punishment for him in the fodder scam case so far.
“As you sow, so will you reap,” commented firebrand BJP leader and federal minister Giriraj Singh. He alleged Lalu Prasad was facing the consequences of his own crime and that the allegations against the BJP were not fair.
“Which party was at the Centre when the investigation started against him in the fodder scam? Instead of blaming that party, the RJD is forging alliance with them,” asked Singh.
The case against Prasad who was then the chief minister of Bihar had been registered in 1996 while the United Front government headed by H.D. Deve Gowda was at the centre.
The RJD (then only Janata Dal) was a part of the 13-party United Front.
The United Front government was a conglomeration of non-Congress and non-BJP government with outside support from the Congress.
The government lasted barely two years, from 1996 to 1998.
