Lalu Prasad Yadav at a Ranchi court today ahead of verdict on fodder scam
As Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted today in the multi-crore fodder scam, his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) stared at an uncertain future.
But amid predictions of a political disaster for the powerful Bihar politician and his party, RJD MP Prabhunath Singh saw the silver lining. If Lalu Prasad goes to jail, it will do the party good, he told party workers.
"Whenever Laluji goes to jail, the party becomes stronger. After his 1977 campaign against the Emergency, he became an MP. He came to power for the third time in Bihar after going to jail. We want him to go to jail, let him go...now we will come back to power in Bihar," Mr Singh said at the RJD meet in Chhapra, raising quite a few eyebrows.
Prabhunath Singh is a relatively import to the RJD. He rebelled against the ruling Janata Dal United and joined Lalu's party only in 2010.
The RJD chief's conviction means his instant disqualification from the Lok Sabha, as per a Supreme Court order of July. It also means he can't contest the national elections in 2014. He has to wait at least six years after completing his sentence to contest, which would mean a severe blow for his RJD.
In Lalu's absence, the party has very little in terms of charismatic and prominent leaders.
The RJD's fortunes have been dwindling since it lost power in Bihar.
In 1997, Lalu Prasad rode an elephant back home after being released from jail on bail in a fodder scam case. His party did unexpectedly well in the 2000 Bihar elections and won 21 out of 40 Bihar seats in 2004, but dropped to just four MPs in the last polls.
The BJP had alleged last week that the Congress-led central government tried to hurriedly push through an Ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court ruling primarily to protect Mr Prasad if he was convicted. Lalu has proved a loyal ally of the Congress.
Congress number 2 Rahul Gandhi's denouncement of the ordinance as "complete nonsense" last Friday has all but aborted the move.