Lalu suffering from depression: RIMS med report

Incarcerated RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is suffering from depression, director of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) R K Shrivastava said Monday.

Doctors attending the former Bihar CM at RIMS have mentioned this in their report, Shrivastava told PTI, adding that depression was also mentioned in the medical discharge slip from AIIMS.

Asked about reports that a psychiatrist may look into Prasad's condition, Shrivastava said there is no update as of now.

Some media reports have attributed Lalu's deteriorating health to corruption cases affecting his family and also reports of political one-upmanship between his two sons.

Prasad has already publicly shown his preference for younger son Tejashwi Yadav as his heir apparent. But elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, a senior minister in the previous grand alliance, has high public standing.

Tej Pratap's padyatra (foot march) from Patna to Sitab Diara, the birthplace of socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan, is seen as counter to Tejashwi's July bicycle yatra from Bodh Gaya to Patna.

On Wednesday last, Prasad was shifted to the paying ward of the hospital after RIMS accepted his prayer that cited poor hygiene, mosquito menace and bark of dogs as perilous to his health.

Prasad, convicted in the fodder scam, was shifted to the 100-bed paying ward, Shrivastava had said. The RJD supremo will have to pay Rs 1,000 per day at the present ward. Shrivastava said the change was done after permission was obtained from the jail superintendent.

After spending a few months out of jail, the RJD supremo surrendered before a CBI court in Ranchi on August 30, upon the expiry of the provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court for medical treatment.

The former Bihar chief minister had recently undergone a fistula operation at a Mumbai hospital. He is a heart patient with kidney ailments as well.