Highlights
- Jharkhand Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachhap and Naman Bixal were suspended today.
- They were held by the West Bengal Police yesterday with a huge amount of cash.
- The stack of cash was recovered from their cars in Howrah.
Jharkhand Congress MLAs suspended: The Congress party on Sunday suspended the three Jharkhand MLAs who were held by the West Bengal Police yesterday with a huge amount of cash in Howrah, announced Avinash Pande, General Secretary and In-charge, Jharkhand Congress. "The three MLAs, who were held with a mountain of cash yesterday, have been suspended from the party with immediate effect," he said. Earlier, Jharkhand Congress alleged a conspiracy by the BJP to destabilise the state government.
The apprehended legislators include Irfan Ansari, MLA from Jamtara, Rajesh Kachhap, MLA from Khijri and Naman Bixal, MLA from Kolebira. The stack of cash was recovered from their cars in Howrah.
Following the incident, Jharkhand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had attacked the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress government in Jharkhand and said since the formation of the government in the state corruption is rampant.
Also, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter yesterday that "The BJP's 'Operation Lotus' in Jharkhand stands exposed tonight in Howrah. The game plan of 'Hum Do' in Delhi is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra by installing E-D duo."
"Ever since their government came to power, corruption is on a rise. Earlier too, large amounts of cash were caught in Jharkhand at officers' homes. They use the public's hard-earned money for other purposes. Police caught them and it came to light," Aditya Sahu, Jharkhand BJP state general secretary told news agency ANI.
"It is in BJP's nature to try and destabilize any government which is not theirs. The same has been done against Chief Minister Hemant Soren's government. The only reason they were given money (by BJP) is to make the government fall," Bandhu Tirkey, Jharkhand Congress working President told ANI.
Acting on a tip-off, police on Saturday intercepted an SUV in which Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari were travelling on national highway-16 at Ranihati in Howrah and allegedly found a huge amount of cash in the vehicle.
