His problems however began in [[1996]] when the police unearthed a big corruption scandal in which he and the state's leading bureaucrats and politicians were involved.
Although he is a figure whose appeal is based on the mass mobilisation of the lower caste Hindu votes, and widely regarded as the champion of social justice by some and as crook with backing of criminal elements in India. The fodder scam forced him to resign as chief minister and he made his uneducated wife, [[Rabri Devi]], became his successor. Laloo and his wife claim that huge wealth they have stolen by taking bribes comes from milk business and dowery that he received from marriage, which it self is illegal in India.
