Lalu conviction 'defining moment' for Indian politics Jaitley

He said after Lalu's RJD was thrown out of power in Bihar, he moved to the Centre as a Union minister and became a balancer for the UPA in its pursuit of coalition politics.

“He had a vested interest in supporting the UPA. Besides being in power he could manage to manipulate the CBI which was prosecuting his case.

“In the year 2004, the first major attack on the UPA government was on the issue of seven tainted ministers being a part of the council of ministers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended the tainted. Lalu Prasad was the foremost among the tainted who were being prosecuted. Some of his cases were successfully killed by the prosecution itself,” Jaitley wrote.