Lalu Prasad Yadav at a Ranchi court today ahead of his conviction in fodder scam
Bihar politician Lalu Prasad was Monday found guilty in the multi-crore fodder scam case which surfaced when he was chief minister of Bihar. The conviction means he stands disqualified immediately as a member of parliament, according to a recent Supreme Court judgement.
Mr Prasad goes to jail today. His sentence will be announced on Tuesday, through video-conferencing.
The 66-year-old Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief was in court when the verdict against him was delivered in Ranchi. He has been convicted along with 44 others, including another former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, six more politicians and four bureaucrats.
Lalu was found guilty of misusing 37 crores when he was chief minister 17 years ago. The case is related to a larger scam which saw huge amounts of government money - nearly 950 crores - being used to pay fictitious bills for medicines and fodder for cattle.
The Supreme Court in July ruled that any MP convicted in a criminal case would have to quit office till his or her appeal is decided by a higher court. The judgement had provoked furious debate among political parties.
The BJP had alleged last week that the Congress wanted to use its special constitutional powers to hurriedly introduce the ordinance to protect Lalu, who proved a loyal ally of the Congress. His party has four Lok Sabha MPs.
However, on Friday, the party's vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, in a surprise attack, dismissed the ordinance as "complete nonsense" and said it should be "torn up and thrown away." That censure was seen as a public and damaging undermining of the Prime Minister by Mr Gandhi, whose mother, Sonia, heads the party.
Mr Gandhi's stand means the government has virtually abandoned the ordinance, which allows convicted MPs to remain in office while their appeal is decided, but without a salary and voting rights.
Lalu was considered virtually unshakeable when he had to resign in 1997 after being charged in the scam; he promptly placed his wife Rabri Devi as CM in his stead. But in the 2005 election, he lost Bihar to Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) who has been in power ever since.