Congress president Rahul Gandhi with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav at AIIMS, New Delhi, Monday. (Source: ANI)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi met with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday and enquired about his health. Lalu, who has been convicted and sentenced to several years in jail by a Ranchi court in fodder scam cases, is reportedly suffering from diabetes, high creatinine levels and blood pressure. A medical board at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS), Ranchi, where 69-year-old Lalu was being treated, referred him to AIIMS for further treatment.
Lalu has now written to AIIMS stating that he does not want to go back, according to news agency ANI, Lalu wrote, “I don’t want to be shifted back to Ranchi hospital, as that hospital is not properly equipped to treat my ailments.” However, AIIMS in a statement said, “Lalu Prasad Yadav was referred to AIIMS for management of his acute medical condition. He has improved significantly and is being referred back to Ranchi Medical College for management of his chronic issues.”
The meeting comes just a day after Rahul sounded the poll bugle for the 2019 general elections at a ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rally organised at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. Congress and RJD are in alliance in Bihar and contested the 2017 assembly elections in the state in coalition with JD(U) under ‘Mahagathbandhan’, followed by the bypolls held a couple of months later in the state.
Congress earlier tried to distance itself from Lalu Prasad Yadav after his conviction in fodder scam. (Source: ANI)
While the Grand Old Party has been critical of the judgment in the fodder scam, convicting the former Bihar CM, it has been trying to distance itself from the RJD chief.
Following Lalu’s conviction, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari had said, “Lalu Prasad has been fighting this legal battle since 1996. It started when some leaders associated with the BJP filed a PIL in Patna High Court. As far as today’s verdict and Lalu Prasad is concerned, he and his lawyer are capable of fighting the legal battle. We have always believed that the law should take its own course.” However, on questions over the alliance, Tewari said the Congress has had alliances with the RJD since 1996. The RJD was part of the UPA government and the grand alliance in Bihar. “Criminal cases and political alliances are two different things,” he added.
Lalu, who has been convicted in four cases, suffered the biggest blow came when the court sentenced him to consecutive rigorous prison terms of seven years each under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. Lalu will have to spend 14 years in prison.