Lalu Prasad walks free from jail, trains guns on Modi, BJP

The 66-year-old former Bihar Chief Minister was released after he was granted bail by Supreme Court last Friday

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today walked out of Birsa Munda Central Jail here after getting bail, two-and-a-half months after he was awarded a five-year prison term in a fodder scam case, and quickly sounded a battle cry against BJP ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The 66-year-old former Bihar Chief Minister was released after he completed the bail formalities in a Special CBI court here. He was granted bail by Supreme Court last Friday.

Dressed in a grey kurta with a dark blue sweater over it, Prasad came out of the main gate and first paid obeisance to the statue of a tribal icon Birsa Munda in jail premises in the Jharkand capital.

As hundreds of RJD supporters greeted him on his release, Prasad said he would chase away "communal elements" trying to make inroads into Delhi.

"The communal elements want to have their stranglehold on Delhi. (With my release) I am now free to chase them away.

"I will go around the country to strengthen the secular forces and Narendra Modi, BJP or RSS will not be allowed to fulfil their dreams," a relieved Prasad told reporters at the jail gate.

When asked about the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, Lalu shot back, "Narendra Modi, or whichever Modi. I am here now; I am ready."

Prasad claimed that the country's fate hung in balance as the year 2014 would 'decide' whether "Bharat will splinter or remain united".

"I pray to parties with secular credentials and their leaders not to allow this happen. I urge them just to rewind to the time of 1947 when the country was partitioned. I will throw my full weight behind secular forces (to make India united)," he said.

Continuing his diatribe against 'communal' forces, Prasad said, "The communalists will be displaced from Hastinapur," (a mythological place referred in Mahabharata).

Prasad's first trip after his release was to the Deori temple at Tamar, about 40 km from Ranchi.

In a brief address to a gathering near the temple, Prasad warned his opponents not to make the mistake of thinking he is finished with electoral politics.

"When I went to jail some people thought I had been finished. They should remember, jab tak rahega aloo, tab tak rahega Lalu (an abstract reference of his name to potatoes)."

The RJD chief, another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others were on September 30 convicted by a special CBI court in the fodder scam case involving fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury during the Prasad-led RJD regime.

On October three, the court had awarded a five-year prison term and slapped Rs 25 lakh as fine on him.