Revision as of 07:33, 24 December 2017

Lalu Prasad Yadav: Biographical highlights; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Biographical highlights

The Times of India, Nov 09 2015

Can't contest for 11 years but Lalu wins match for Nitish

Despite an uncertain future following his conviction in the fodder scam (he's currently out on bail), Lalu proved in 2015 that he remains one of the principal poles of Bihar politics. This even though his conviction renders him ineligible for contesting elections for at least six years after he finishes serving the five-year sentence. This election was yet another milestone in the life of the cow herd who has exploited his caste identity , inimitable communication skills and political cunning to craft an odds-defying political career.

His street smartness became evident when he moved from his village to live in the frugal peons' quarters of Patna Veterinary College, where his brothers were employed. He soon became a successful student leader. Lalu's ideological moorings were not that strong, but he more than made up for that with his flamboyance and people skills. On March 18, 1974, when police fired upon student protesters leading to several deaths, Lalu declared himself dead. He passed on the “information“ to newspaper offices, besides telling milkmen to spread the word about the death of a “prominent Yadav leader“. Tthe episode helped him create curiosity about himself, Lalu admitted.

Imprisonment during Emergency--he named his first child Misa because he had been detained under Maintenance of Internal Security Act--lent him a seriousness that many thought he had lacked till then. It also propelled him to Lok Sabha in 1977.

He lost the LS election in 1980 and 1984, but won the So nepur assembly seat in consecutive elections. The untimely demise of socialist giant Karpoori Thakur in 1988 helped Lalu become leader of opposition: a breakthrough achieved with the help of Nitish Kumar. He got elected to LS in 1989 but his heart was set on Patna. The 1990 state elections saw Janata Dal eking out a narrow victory, and Lalu became CM.

His unconventional style created ripples. He would land in government offices for what he called “auchak nirikshan“ or “surprise inspections“, and summon fire tenders to hose mud-caked kids in Dalit `bastis'. Even as bureaucrats tried to come to terms with the man who found files a pain and was more comfortable sitting cross-legged in lungi and khadi vest with the ubiquitous spittoon not far away , Lalu caught the imagination of the masses, Yadavs as well as OBCs.

The excitement was about to wear thin when Devi Lal fell out with V P Singh. But Lalu and other Tau proteges like Nitish switched support to V P Singh in exchange for his commitment to implemen the Mandal Commission re port. This established him as the leader of OBCs. The sup port of OBCs and Muslims helped him sweep the 1991 LS elections and, later, survive the revolt by Nitish. He won the 1995 state elections on his own steam and seemed set to realise his aspiration to be PM after the 1996 LS polls when the fodder scam derailed him.

He lost the 2005 state polls and was routed in the 2009 LS polls and 2010 assembly polls as well. His conviction and disqualification from contesting polls, the defeat of his wife and daughter in the 2014 LS polls and the issue of who should succeed him pulled him down.

He appeared to be at an existential crossroad until Nov 2015 when he emerged as the single largest player and took credit for the “coronation“ of “chhota bhai“ Nitish as CM.

Ill-gotten assets

Ministers gave property to Prasad's family

Ex-RJD mantri: Gave Lalu kin land, it wasn't quid pro quo, April 29, 2017: The Times of India

RJD Neta: Members Try To Financially Empower Party Chief

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) admitted that former Union ministers Raghunath Jha and Kanti Singh gave property to party chief Lalu Prasad's family, but denied that it was quid pro quo. The statement came a day after senior BJP member Sushil Kumar Modi accused Lalu of acquiring properties from Jha and Singh in exchange for ministerial berths in the UPA-I government.

Singh not only accepted that she and her family gave 30 katthas of land (approx. 41,400 sq ft) at Danapur, Patna district, on lease to Lalu's wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi in 2006, but also said they registered it in Rabri's name in 2010. Modi had alleged that Singh and her family leased out the land to Rabri for 99 years on a monthly rent of Rs 1,250 for a Union Cabinet berth.

“Laluji's family had to vacate the CM's official residence after RJD lost the 2005 assembly elections. Laluji had around 100 cows and he had to shift them to another place. So, I leased out my plot at Danapur as a temporary arrangement and later sold it to Rabri in 2010 for Rs1 crore as my family needed money after I lost the 2009 elections,“ Singh added.

Modi countered Singh's claims and said the land she registered in Rabri's name was different from the one she had leased out to her. “The land Kanti Singh is talking about is a 62-decimal (roughly 27,000 sqft) plot adjacent to the 95-decimal (approx. 41,400 sq ft) leased out to Rabri. Kanti Singh sold this particular piece of land to Lalu's two sons -Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap -for Rs 60.36 lakh in 2010,“ Modi alleged.

Jha's son Ajit Kumar Jha also admitted that his father had gifted a plot in Gopalganj to Tejashwi and Tej Pratap in 2005, but emphasised that it was a “personal“ transaction. “Zameen mera, hum usko kisko gift karein, usse kisiko kya matlab hai (The land is ours.How does it concern anyone else if we gift it to someone)?“ Ajit said. He added that his father's ministerial stint under UPA-I wasn't his first. “My father was state (Bihar) minister of various important departments... between 1980-83 and 1990-95. Besides, he was an MLA from 1972 to 1998 and became MP in 1999 and 2009.He was in the prime of his political career even before he gifted the land. Hence, the allegation of seeking favours is baseless,“ Ajit added.

Addressing newsmen, RJD functionary Jagdanand Singh said: “Lalu is our leader. He fights for social justice. Hence, other leaders try to financially empower him in order to make him strong enough to lead the movement.“

Cattle-shed worker `gifted' Rabri land worth Rs 31 lakh

Rabri's cattle-shed worker `gifted' her land worth Rs 31 lakh: Sushil Modi, June 7, 2017: The Times of India

`Benami Assets Used To Convert Black Money'

Leader of opposition in the Bihar legislative council Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi had been gifted a 1,088sqft land near Saguna Mor valued at Rs 30.9 lakh on January 25, 2014, by Lalan Choudhary , an employee of a cattle shed run by her family , in order to convert their black money.

Furnishing documents, the senior BJP member claimed that Choudhary , a resident of Barharia block in Siwan, bought the land along with a house for Rs 3.90 lakh on March 30, 2009, from one Rameshwar Prasad Yadav.

Five years later, the same land was gifted to RJD chief Lalu Prasad's wife when its value had risen to Rs 30.90 lakh, Modi said.

Modi, who has held 20 press conferences in the last two months to expose the benami properties of the Lalu clan, questioned the purpose of gifting the land to Rabri.

He quoted a clause from documents related to transfer of land, which stated, “The donor (Choudhary) is very close to the done (Rabri) for a long time and the done is also financially helping and rendering service to him for a long time and therefore the donor disclosed his intense desire to gift his said property .“ “What kind of financial aid was Rabri providing to Choudhary that he gifted such a high-value land to her? Why did he agree to suffer a loss of Rs 27 lakh while gifting the land to Rabri?“ Modi asked on the sidelines of his weekly ja nata darbar.

“Rabri purchased the land at undervalued price in the name of Choudhary using her black money and got it gifted to herself after five years,“ he said.

Modi, a former Bihar deputy CM, asked Lalu's family to disclose the actual identity of Choudhary and the purpose of gifting the land to Rabri.

“The modus operandi of the Lalu family is to acquire benami properties at throwaway prices,“ Modi said.

He had earlier accused Lalu of acquiring properties from former RJD MPs Raghunath Jha and Kanti Singh in lieu of offering them ministerial berths.

Fodder scam

2017: found guilty

December 23, 2017: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

RJD chief Lalu Prasad was found guilty in one of the four pending fodder scam cases

In the second blow to the Yadav family on the same day, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad was on Saturday found guilty in one of the four pending fodder scam cases.

Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom, reported PTI. Lalu was among the 15 of the 22 accused found guilty by a special CBI court in Ranchi for the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury between 1994 and 1996.

The convicts, including the RJD chief, were taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict. Seven of the accused, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, were acquitted, reported ANI.

Earlier in the day, before the verdict was pronounced, Lalu had expressed his "respect" for the country's courts. "We trust and respect the judiciary. We will not let BJP's conspiracies work. The way things happened in the 2G case, they way they happened for Ashok Chavan, the same will happen for me," he said.

The RJD chief faced five cases in the fodder scam, of which now three are pending. He had been sentenced to five years in jail and fined Rs 25 lakh for the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.5 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in October 2013, but was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December 2013.

In 2014, the Jharkhand high court had stayed the trial against the former Bihar chief minister in four of the pending cases saying that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidence. The order, however, was quashed by the apex court, which ordered Lalu to stand trial in all pending fodder scam cases in which he was an accused.

Lalu had stressed that the judgment in the fodder scam would not adversely impact the RJD+ , which would continue to be led by his sons Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav. Hours before the judgment in the fodder scam, the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband in a money laundering case.