'If in alliance, Lalu Yadav would have been Raja Harishchandra for BJP'

Lalu Prasad, former Bihar chief minister, would have been regarded as 'Raja Harishchandra' by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if he had allied with them, alleged his son and former state deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday.

"Opponents think Lalu is finished after going to jail. They are hugely mistaken. People of Bihar are outraged; they will give a strong reply to this. The credit for the dirty politics goes to Nitish Kumar (Bihar Chief Minister) only. Lalu ji would have been 'Raja Harishchandra' for the BJP if he had allied with them," Tejashwi said.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on December 23 found the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo, Lalu guilty in a fodder scam case.

Fourteen others had also been held guilty, while seven accused were acquitted, including former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra.

The court is scheduled to pronounce the quantum of sentence on January 3, 2018 for the 15 guilty, including Lalu.

Lalu has been convicted in the case relating to embezzlement of more than Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994.

The fodder scam involved the embezzlement of about Rs 900 crores from the Bihar exchequer.

The corruption scheme involved the fabrication of 'vast herds of fictitious livestock for which fodder, medicines and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured over a period of 20 years'.