RANCHI: Former Bihar chief minister and RJD president Lalu Prasad may have to stay away from Patna till Saturday, where his presence is needed the most to salvage the party from a political crisis. For, the RJD patriarch is to appear before a special CBI court in the course of next two days for his involvement in four fodder scam cases.After recording statements in his defence on Tuesday Lalu appeared before three courts on Thursday.Lalu appeared before the courts of CBI judges Shivpal Singh, Pradip Kumar and Swarna Shankar Prasad to present defence witnesses in connection to two separate fodder scam cases. The cases involve fraudulent withdrawal of crores of rupees by the Bihar animal husbandry department (AHD) from Chaibasa and Deoghar treasuries when Lalu was the chief minister of the undivided Bihar.Lalu's advocate, Prabhat Kumar said he presented former Banka MP Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav and one Mohammad Jainul (retired under-secretary of Bihar assembly) as his witnesses.Lalu's advocate added that the RJD leader will have to appear before the court in all the three cases on Friday. "The hearing of all these cases, including another one (of Dumka) treasury, will continue on Friday and Saturday. So he has to be present on both the days," Kumar said.Dressed in a bright Kurta, Lalu arrived at the court premises at 10.30 am. He sat through the proceedings in three courtrooms that lasted for almost two hours. He avoided media throughout.Lalu's absence from Bihar for three days in succession amid the political turmoil may hurt RJD. However, the party claimed otherwise. "He is in constant touch with his family and party workers over the telephone. He is constantly monitoring the situation in Bihar," a party leader said.

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