Bihar’s don-politician Mohammed Shahabuddin who was released on bail on Saturday after 11 years in jail said that Nitish Kumar may be the chief minister but his leader will always be Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Asserting that he is loyal only to Lalu, the dreaded don also made a few observations about the generational changes that have taken place in his party RJD since he was sent to jail on a battery of charges including multiple murders.
Lalu is my leader, Tejaswi is a kid, says Shahabuddin after bail
Asked about Bihar deputy CM and Lalu’s son Tejaswi, Shahabuddin had this to say “People may accept Tejaswi as a leader, but for me he is a kid…His father is my leader.”
Shahabuddin, who lorded over Siwan for decades, was sent to jail in 2005 after Nitish Kumar came to power. If his arrest was then hailed as an example of law being finally allowed to take its own course, Nitish’s political opponents point to his release now as an example of the “return of jungle raj” to the state.
Shahabuddin who represented Siwan in Lok Sabha for four times as an RJD candidate was granted bail by the Patna High Court in the Rajiv Raushan murder case. Among the other high profile cases where the former MP is an accused is the murder of former JNU chairman Chandrashekhar Prasad.
Walking out of jail on Saturday, Shahabuddin dismissed the allegations. “Even when I was inside jail, there were murders happening. Why blame me for all those,” he said.
Rajiv Raushan was shot dead in Siwan in June 2014 when Shahabuddin was still in jail.