RJD's Mohammad Shahabuddin released from jail after 11 years; takes a swipe at Nitish Kumar

BHAGALPUR ( BIHAR): RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin on Saturday walked out of prison on bail after 11 years with much fanfare and praised party chief Lalu Prasad while making it clear that there was no love lost between him and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“For me Lalu Prasad is the leader” and Nitish Kumar is the CM “circumstantially”, said Shahabuddin, a four-time MP from Siwan, as he came out of the Bhagalpur divisional jail and left in a convoy of 300 vehicles for Siwan. Shahabuddin, who is a member of the RJD National Committee, the top decision-making body of the party, and is known to be close to the RJD chief, said he never enjoyed good relations with Nitish.

Various cases against Shahabuddin were reopened and he was sent to jail after Nitish assumed power in 2005. Shahabuddin got a reprieve on Wednesday when the Patna High Court granted him bail in the case of a murder of a witness to the 2004 killing of two brothers in Siwan. Shahabuddin was received by his supporters and RJD workers. He was welcomed by RJD Lok Sabha MP from Bhagalpur, Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Manda.

Shahabuddin said for him Lalu is the leader: “We all are standing solidly behind him.” He said after reaching Siwan he would meet the family of journalist Rajdeo Nandan, who was shot dead recently. Shahabuddin’s close associate Laddan Mian is in jail in connection with the scribe’s murder and though the inquiry into it has so far not named the RJD strongman, he was shifted to Bhagalpur divisional jail from Siwan a little after the murder. The Nitish Kumar government recommended a CBI probe on demand of the Nandan’s family.

Asked by newsmen whether his prolonged jail term had harmed him politically, Shahabuddin said, “A little damage has happened.” His wife Heena Sahab lost to Om Prakash Yadav of BJP in the last parliamentary election from Siwan in 2014.

About senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi’s allegation that the Grand Secular Alliance government had paved the way for his release, as RJD is the major partner in it, Shahabuddin said, “There is no need to take Sushil Modi seriously.”