Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav had thrown barbs at the prime minister over his having no family.
CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh directed senior RJD leaders Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand Tiwari and Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Manish Tewari to personally appear before the court on January 23.
Soon after voting, Lalu said there was an 'undercurrent' in favour of his party and that would obtain absolute majority.
"Lalu Prasad has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment while a penalty of Rs 60 lakh has also been imposed on him. Apart from Prasad, five years imprisonment each was announced by the Court for five convicts, four years each for 32 convicts and three years each for three convicts," CBI counsel B M P Singh told PTI.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, seeking a fifth term, has asserted that he will remain in the NDA, crediting the BJP for his rise to power. Kumar, the JD(U) supremo, reiterated his stance at the Khelo India Youth Games. He has been a BJP ally since the mid-1990s but parted ways in 2013. Kumar's return to the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha polls last year, after previously joining hands with the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, has sparked debate about his political strategy.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has fulfilled wish of his wife Rabri Devi by establishing a railway link between Phulwaria, his ancestral village with Salar Kalan, her village in Gopalganj district.
The so-called soil scam has left Lalu alone in the Mahagathbandhan.
Old-timers seem not impressed with the idea of dropping from the RJD poster its jailed supremo who is acknowledged, across party lines, as the biggest crowd puller ever seen in Bihar's poitical arena.
In a tweet in Hindi, Lalu said, "Met the country's senior most socialist friend Shri Mulayam Singhji and enquired about his wellbeing. We have common concerns and fight about farmers, inequality, the poor and the unemployed."
Togadia also urged the Nitish Kumar-led government to take immediate steps to check ISI activities and make concerted efforts to tone up the administration to tackle the law and order problem.
The CBI has named Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to 12 people who were given jobs in Railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hajipur, the officials said.
The Election Commission released a copy of the electoral rolls showing his details, confirming that he was listed at a booth in the Veterinary College in Patna.
'Nitish Kumar thinks the matter will keep Lalu in check and that he will remain in power without any challenge from the RJD.'
'We will be happy if Nitishji becomes convenor of INDIA.'
The CBI suspects that Yadav had played a crucial role in facilitating the jobs and later, the transfer of land to Prasad's family.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and the Congress of helping former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda allegedly amass black money, a charge rubbished as "ridiculous" by the RJD supremo.
Upbeat at the massive turn-out of people at a rally in Patna on Sunday, Lalu Prasad for the first time introduced his two sons to the crowd as his sons and as cricket players.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was fined Rs 6,000 by a court in Jharkhand's Palamu district on Wednesday for violating the model code of conduct during the 2009 assembly elections in the state.
After taking pot shots at each other under the guise of poetry, the war of words between Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shows no sings of abating."Lalu Prasad is not a trusted politician as he had failed to deliver during his 15 year regime in Bihar. What he is promising today is a mere political gimmick," Nitish Kumar said while reacting to Lalu's campaign promise that he would give free motorcycles and petrol to students.
Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding, notes Aditi Phadnis.
For one and a half hours on the floor of the Lok Sabha, four key parties spanning the full spectrum of political opinion from left to right to centrist joined forces and put together a national government with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav as the prime minister of the country.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday termed his past alliances with arch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal as a 'mistake' that he committed twice but was determined not to repeat again.
The former Bihar CM can meet guests between 8 am and 12 noon during weekdays in line with the jail manual, Birsa Munda Jail Superintendent Ashok Kumar Choudhary said.
Nitish's absence triggered speculation of a logjam in the coming together of Janata Dal-United and RJD ahead of the crucial state election.
Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad Yadav's two of the most trusted senior IAS officers have been moved into departments held by the party patron's sons in the Bihar cabinet.
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi were acquitted in the disproportionate assets case on Monday.
The maverick MLA came out with the announcement, claiming, as always, that he had "the blessings of Lalu Prasad", at a time when he was left licking his wounds after losing the battle in a tug of war with state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh.
Arvind Kejriwal warned the media that "very big forces" would try and break the INDIA alliance by showing that there was a lot of acrimony among them.
A Central Bureau of Investigation court in Patna on Wednesday ordered Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad to appear in the court on September 6, in connection with the multi crore fodder scam, court official said The court in its orders made it clear to Lalu Prasad to appear physically in the court, a court sources said.
Reacting to RJD president Lalu Prasad's charge that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was a "complex-ridden person",Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said it was actually the former union minister who is suffering from "phobias".
After being invited by IIM-A to lecture on the turnaround of the loss-making railways, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his management techniques will be the subject of a new book.
'...the electoral playing field is tilted significantly in its favour.'
Continuing dynasty politics, Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad on Friday nominated his daughter Misa Bharti to Rajya Sabha, reports MI I Khan.
Political watchers say the caste survey report was made public to play the OBC-EBC card and stall the BJP's campaign to win most of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats.
Appearing on national television to mark the silver jubilee of the party he founded in 1997 after breaking away from the Janata Dal, Prasad, who is suffering from many ailments and convalescing at his MP daughter Misa Bharti's residence in New Delhi, recalled his struggles for OBC quota and the fight for the rights of the weaker sections.
A supporter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad collapsed and died after hearing that a court jailed him for five years while another supporter is on fast since Monday after the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo was convicted in the fodder scam.
They may be on the same side of political power, but that did not stop Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and her predecessor Lalu Prasad from taking pot-shots at each other during the presentation of Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha.
'We used to discuss how image-conscious Nitish Kumar was and his sophisticated conduct in public life. All this has become a thing of the past.'
Lalu landed in a soup after a news channel expose about a purported conversation with murder convict Mohammad Shahabuddin.
