PATNA: In what reminded of the 1997 when Lalu Prasad virtually forced wife
Rabri Devi out of the kitchen and installed her as
Bihar CM in his place hours before his arrest in a fodder scam case, the
RJD chief on Wednesday did an encore of sorts and appointed her the party vice-president while he is in jail following his conviction in another fodder scam case.
Lalu has also appointed
Ram Jethmalani as a member of the party's executive committee. The eminent lawyer represented Lalu in the Supreme Court to oppose the CBI plea against the Ranchi high court's order to quash all other fodder scam cases, except the one in which Lalu was convicted, on the ground that a person cannot be prosecuted twice for a similar offence.
The Supreme Court upheld the CBI plea, following which Lalu has been facing separate trial in the remaining five cases. He has since been convicted in the second fodder scam case.
Rabri will be one of the party's five vice- presidents. The others include former MPs Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand
Tiwari and Mangni Lal Mandal and former state minister Illiyas Hussain.
Rabri has been given an organisational post for the first time. Till now, she was a member of the national executive.
The couple's sons — Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav — as well as daughter Misa Bharti retained their membership of the national executive. However, jailed Siwan strongman Mohd Shahabuddin has been replaced in the national executive by his wife Heena Shahab.
RJD's principal general secretary S M Qamar Alam released the list of new appointments made by Lalu who has been lodged in a Ranchi jail since December 23. The party had earlier authorised him to reconstitute the national executive committee following his re-election as the RJD president on November 21.
Former Union minister
Kanti Singh, Lalu's close aide Bhola Yadav and six others have been appointed the party's national general secretary.
Party's national spokesperson Manoj Jha, former state finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui and former Union corporate affairs minister Premchand Gupta have been made the national executive members.
While ruling JD (U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said the new appointments were aimed at "saving" the Lalu family which has been facing several corruption cases, RJD's newly appointed vice-president Shivanand refuted the charge.
"As for nepotism, why doesn't the JD (U) speak on ally LJP, in which all key positions are held by by party president and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and his family members," Tiwari asked.
Lalu-yadav
