Siwan strongman and former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin on Saturday walked out of Bhagalpur central jail after 11 years, as Patna high court has granted him bail in the much-publicised Rajiv Raushan murder case.

As he left prison, the four-term former MP from Siwan who has over 40 criminal cases against him and is serving a life sentence for murder, pledged allegiance to Lalu Yadav and took a swipe at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

“Nitish Kumar is a leader of circumstances, my leader is Lalu Yadav,” said Mr Shahabuddin in an assessment of their partnership. He is a member of the RJD’s national executive.

“Everyone knows I was framed. It was court who jailed me…now court has released me. No one should take Sushil Modi seriously. This has got nothing to do with politics, judicial has its own procedures,” Shahbuddin said.

“I am going to my village after 13 years. Why would I try to change my image? People have accepted me the way I am for 26 years. I haven’t met with anyone for the last ten years,” he added.

The changed equations reflected in the reaction of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United to Mr Shahabuddin’s dig at the chief minister. “Shahabuddin is the leader of RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) – our alliance partner. I wouldn’t want to comment on it,” said the party’s KC Tyagi.

“Shahabuddin has been released on bail and we mustn’t question the judgement of the courts and judiciary,” Mr Tyagi said about his release.

The BJP’s Sushil Modi has said in a tweet, “Now Lalu symbol of corruption will be on one side of Nitish & Shahabuddin symbol of terror on the other side…”

Rejecting the BJP’s allegations, Lalu Yadav’s son Tejaswi Yadav said, “When BJP leaders are given bail do people question them? When Amit Shah was given acquittal were BJP leaders questioned?”