Jail term for Lalu Prasad will be deterrent against corruption: M Venkaiah Naidu

KOLKATA: Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today said that the five-year jail term for RJD chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and four years for another former CM Jagannath Mishra will act as a deterrent against corruption.

"I hope that today's sentence and judgement will act as a deterrent for politicians in getting involved in corruption in future," Naidu, a BJP MP and former party president, told a press conference here.

"The CBI court's sentence for Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra is expected. Though justice is delayed, but it is not denied," he said.

He said that Congress MP Rashid Masood was also awarded a four-year jail term recently.

Naidu said that the BJP is demanding that fast-track courts be set up to try cases involving politicians involved in corruption.

"The fodder scam case took 16 years, Masood's case 17 years and other politically important cases like 2G, coalgate, and Commonwealth Games, among others, are facing abnormal delays," the BJP leader said.

There are delays on the part of the prosecuting agencies as has happened in the case of Lalu Prasad, he said.

"In the coming session of Parliament, BJP will insist on setting up of fast-track courts to deal with cases where politicians are involved in corruption or criminal interference," he said.