Criminal cases and political coalition are separate matters and RJD leader Lalu Prasad is fully capable of fighting his legal battle, the Congress said here today, after the former Bihar chief minister was convicted in a fodder scam case by a special CBI court in Ranchi.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari also alleged that the CBI was a "pet performing parrot of this government" and questioned why similar actions were not initiated against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the Srijan scam, in which the "quantum of embezzlement was of a much greater order".
"Why are there different strokes for different folks?" he alleged, while demanding an SIT probe into the Srijan scam.
The special CBI court today convicted Lalu Prasad and 15 others in the fodder scam case while acquitting six including another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra.
"Lalu Prasad's legal fight is not going on from today. It is going on from 1996. It had started when some leaders associated with BJP had filed a petition in Patna High court.
"As far as today's verdict is concerned, Lalu Prasad and his lawyer are fully capable to deal with this," he told reporters.
"We would like to ask BJP why the Srijan Scam is not being investigated? Because the central charge in Srijan scam is also the same. The central charge is embezzlement from state treasury and the quantum of embezzlement is of a much greater order," he said.
He said the alleged embezzlement across different treasuries in Bihar took place under Nitish Kumar and Finance Minister Sushil Modi.
"So if the courts are establishing the principle with regard to the judicial adjudication of alleged offences related to alleged embezzlement of the treasury, why is not the Srijan scam being investigated. Why are there different strokes for different folks?" he asked.
Asked whether the political association of the Congress with the RJD will continue after today's verdict, Tewari said criminal cases and political coalitions are separate matters.
"This (case) has not started today. It had started in 1993-94. Between 1993-94 and today, we (Congress) have had coalition with RJD, during UPA-1 they were part of the government, they were part of mahagatbandhan as well. So criminal cases and political alliance are two separate matters," he said.
He alleged that "CBI is behaving like a pet performing parrot of this government".
And its biggest evidence is that when the 2G verdict came and the first verdict was not even uploaded, the CBI and the ED gave statements that they would file appeal.
"CBI and ED are not private lawyers, they are state instrumentalities. They are supposed to function in a fair, objective and transparent manner," he said.
"So as far as CBI and ED are concerned, if you think that JDU is in coalition with BJP, and there will be investigation against their ministers, this is like flying fictional kites," he added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)