JD(U) leaders feel the Lalu-led RJD has already been weakened in the state and now this scam, if properly utilised, can deal a body blow to the Yadav chieftain. The Nitish Kumar-led Government in the state has already dented Lalu’s Muslim support base and feels it will be a matter of time before people of his caste too desert him.

The multicrore-fodder scam had come to light at a time when Lalu was at the peak of his political popularity in 1995. The latest allegations have also come at a time when he is riding the crest of his popularity as the most successful Railway Minister. Considering that elections are not far away, the scam will become a major poll issue for the NDA in Bihar. “This scandal shows that Lalu and his kin have an immense greed for wealth, and to satisfy that, they have not even spared the people of their caste,” said a JD(U) leader.

The JD(U), alleged to have masterminded the expose, will build a political campaign against Lalu over the scandal. The party feels the “land for job and ministerial berths” scam is much more potent than the fodder scam. “In the fodder scam allegations against Lalu were indirect. He was charged with conspiracy. But here he and his family members are directly involved,” party spokesman and MP Shivanand Tiwary told The Indian Express.

Though Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has so far refrained from attacking Lalu over the alleged scam, sources in the party said he was pursuing it very seriously. Kumar, who was in New Delhi on Thursday, is learnt to have called top BJP leaders, L K Advani and Arun Jaitley, urging them to take up the issue at the Centre. Thereafter, Jaitley held a press conference along with JD(U)’s Bihar president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, and demanded a probe from the Prime Minister.