Rabri Devi appeals to party workers to stay united after Lalu's sentencing

Wife of Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi on Sunday requested her party members to stay united during ' this tough time', and appealed to everyone to concentrate on the works of the party.

"Opposition is saying that party is going to break; that is not going to happen. You just have to strongly indulge yourself in the party works. I request you all to stay united and spread the work of our party. Public is ours; and we will go with public," she said at the meeting of RJD party workers here.

RJD leader Ram Kripal Singh assured his party workers that RJD would achieve greater heights under the able leadership of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

"This time of crisis is a challenge before us. People have conspired against our leader Lalu Prasad Yadav. He is still the president of our party and will remain so, and we will continue with the party works. The flag of RJD is will soar under the leadership of Lalu Prasad Yadav ji," he said.

Earlier in the day, RJD party workers held a meeting here to decide future course of action for the party.

A special CBI court in Ranchi had sentenced Lalu Prasad Yadav to five years in prison in connection with the fodder scam case on October 3.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs. 25 lakh on Lalu Yadav.

The verdict also disqualifies him from Lok Sabha membership and bars him from contesting elections for six years, according to a recent Supreme Court order.

Former Bihar Chief Minister Dr. Jagannath Mishra and sitting JD (U) MP Jagdish Sharma were sentenced to four years in prison each in the case.

The fodder scam also known as "Chara Ghotala" involved the siphoning of funds from the Bihar Government treasury.

The alleged theft spanned over several years, and many Bihar state government administrative and elected officials across multiple administrations were allegedly engaged in it.

The fodder scam was unearthed in Bihar in 1996 when Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of the state. He had resigned from the post in 1997 after a court issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with one of the cases.