Patna: Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday said he feared for his father Lalu Prasad's life.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief was on Saturday sentenced to 14 years in jail and fined Rs 60 lakh by a special CBI court in a fourth fodder scam case.

Speaking in Patna after the verdict, Tejashwi alleged that Lalu Prasad's life was under threat. He claimed that the BJP and chief minister Nitish Kumar were behind the fodder scam cases.

"One thing is very clear," Tejashwi said. "The BJP and Nitish have become blind after getting power and they are equally afraid of Laluji. I am sure they can go to any extent and I am afraid about only one thing - that they are planning a conspiracy against my father," the young leader said.

"I am sure that there is a threat to Laluji's life. I am saying this because the way the CBI, ED and the I-T (department) are filing false cases against our family members, they have decided to eliminate my father."

Tejashwi said the BJP and Nitish were afraid of his father because if Lalu were to come out of jail, they would face defeat in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections due in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

"The BJP and Nitish know very well that if Laluji were outside jail, he would form a Grand Alliance at the national level. This would dash Narendra Modi's dreams of becoming Prime Minister again," Tejashwi said. "My father will not only finish their political careers but will also expose them and their corruption."

He said the family would appeal in a higher court against the judgment in the fourth fodder scam case, which relates to the withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury in the early 1990s against fake bills when Lalu was chief minister of undivided Bihar.

Tejashwi added: "In the other cases too we have challenged the court's decision and we will do the same in this case as well.

"Our earlier petition is pending before the court. The lower court has given its decision but we have all options open. However, it is the court of the people that will give the final verdict through their votes the way they did during the recent bypoll in Bihar."