Tejashwi Yadav has been accused in a corruption case that led to the splitting of the alliance.
Highlights
- Lalu Yadav's wife Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav get bail in corruption case
- Tejashwi Yadav, 28, and mother appeared before a Delhi court
- The corruption case is the main reason for the fall of JDU-RJD alliance
Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav and wife Rabri Devi were granted bail in a corruption case this morning by a court in Delhi. A day after Lalu Yadav had to surrender following the end of his parole, the court decision comes as a huge reprieve for his family as well as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
A judge took just a few minutes to announce bail for Tejashwi Yadav, 28, who was present in court with his mother Rabri Devi.
Lalu Yadav's younger son, widely seen as his political heir, has been accused by the CBI in a corruption case that triggered his party's split with Nitish Kumar last year and left the RJD out of power.
With his father in jail in three corruption cases, Tejashwi Yadav has been leading the party and its offensive against Nitish Kumar and the BJP. Party leaders say had he not been granted bail, it would ruin their chances in the general election due next year.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ended his alliance with Lalu Yadav in July 2017 a few weeks after the CBI filed the case naming Tejashwi Yadav, who was the Deputy Chief Minister in his government.
The IRCTC case involves three acres of land in Patna where a mall has been planned. Lalu Yadav has been charged with facilitating, as the country's Railways Minister in 2006, a contract to a private company to run hotels, in exchange for the premium plot as bribe.
The land was first transferred to the wife of a lawmaker of Mr Yadav's party and finally to Mr Yadav's wife and son Tejashwi at a dirt-cheap rate, the CBI says.
Despite signals from Nitish Kumar's party, Tejashwi had refused to quit while his father Lalu Yadav insisted that the case was the outcome of the BJP's "vendetta politics".
Tejashwai, named one of the conspirators, has argued repeatedly that he was very young when the land was acquired and cannot be blamed for a deal dating back to when he was "just a boy who hadn't even sprouted a moonchh".
When Nitish Kumar asked him to give a public explanation, Tejashwi Yadav refused to do that, insisting he would reply only before a court. A few days later, Nitish Kumar ended the Grand Alliance and quit as Chief Minister. One day later, he returned as Chief Minister after resurrecting his ties with former ally BJP.