Fodder scam: Lalu Prasad Yadav physically unfit to travel, unable to appear before court today

New Delhi, Oct 6: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who is admitted in Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) have been declared physically unfit to travel by the doctors.

Director of the RIMS R K Shrivastava said that incarcerated RJD chief is suffering from depression.

RJD's Bhola Yadav said,''He is admitted at RIMS, Ranchi, the doctors have declared him 'physically unfit to travel'. Jail authorities have informed the court of his inability to appear before it today.''

Prasad has already publicly shown his preference for younger son Tejashwi Yadav as his heir apparent. But elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, a senior minister in the previous grand alliance, has high public standing.Tej Pratap's padyatra (foot march) from Patna to Sitab Diara, the birthplace of socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan, is seen as counter to Tejashwi's July bicycle yatra from Bodh Gaya to Patna.

Last Wednesday, Prasad was shifted to the paying ward of the hospital after RIMS accepted his prayer that cited poor hygiene, mosquito menace and bark of dogs as perilous to his health.

Prasad, convicted in the fodder scam, was shifted to the 100-bed paying ward, Shrivastava had said. The RJD supremo will have to pay Rs 1,000 per day at the present ward. Shrivastava said the change was done after permission was obtained from the jail superintendent.

After spending a few months out of jail, the RJD supremo surrendered before a CBI court in Ranchi on August 30, upon the expiry of the provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court for medical treatment.

On August 24, the Jharkhand High Court had refused to extend the provisional bail of the former Bihar Chief Minister, and Lalu subsequently surrendered before the special Central Bureau of Investigation court on August 30.

The former Bihar chief minister had recently undergone a fistula operation at a Mumbai hospital. He is a heart patient with kidney ailments as well.