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Lalu Prasad may miss son Tej Pratap’s wedding with Aishwarya Rai as bail plea deferred
Plea will come up in court on May 11 but aides say even if Lalu Prasad gets bail, shifting him from Ranchi to Patna within a day for the May 12 wedding would be a cumbersome process
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad may miss the wedding of his son Tej Pratap Yadav with former minister Chandrika Rai’s daughter Aishwarya Rai on May 12, according to his close aides.
The Jharkhand high court has deferred the hearing of Lalu Prasad’s bail plea till May 11, the day the wedding rituals start . The RJD leader, who has been convicted in fodder scam cases, is being treated for several diseases, including diabetes and a kidney ailment, at the Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences.
Even if Prasad got bail on May 11, shifting him from Ranchi to Patna within a day for the May 12 wedding would be difficult, said RJD MLA and a close aide of Prasad, Bhola Yadav. Tej Pratap will marry Aishwarya Rai at the veterinary college ground in Patna.
“At present, the chances of the RJD chief attending the wedding appears bleak as the bail hearing has been deferred,” said Bhola Yadav.
He and other aides handling legal matters are keeping their fingers crossed, as is Prasad’s family.
Lalu Prasad applied for provisional bail for urgent treatment of his ailments. The Jharkhand high court was slated to hear the petition on Friday, but it was deferred due to a lawyers’ strike. Now, there are indications that Prasad’s counsels might pray for early hearing on the bail petition next week.
“A lot will depend on how the CBI’s counsel argues the case next Friday. We are, of course, expecting a favourable order,” said RJD MP and Lalu’s close aide Jay Prakash Yadav.
“These are difficult times for us. The bail hearing will come up on Friday and next two days are holidays - Saturday and Sunday. Official formalities usually take time on off-days,” Yadav added.
Lalau Prasad was shifted from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi to Ranchi last Monday, a move RJD leaders called a “political conspiracy” of Centre.
Incidentally, Lalu has not applied for parole so far, as he is banking on securing provisional bail, which is usually granted for four weeks. Parole is given to prisoners to attend a wedding or funeral and the application can be moved both with prison authorities and the court. “We have not applied for parole as Prasad is medically unfit,” said another aide who handles legal matters for the RJD chief.
Tej Pratap’s marriage will be the first big wedding in Lalu’s family since 2014, when the RJD chief’s youngest daughter Raj Laxmi tied the knot with the grand-nephew of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
