‘BJP’s Operation Lotus in Jharkhand exposed’: Congress after three MLAs caught with cash; saffron party rubbishes it

NEW DELHI,JULY 31: The Congress has accused the BJP of trying to topple its coalition government in Jharkhand after three MLAS were caught allegedly with a huge amount of cash in West Bengal’s Howrah, saying the saffron party’s game plan is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra.

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.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter on Saturday 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.”

After rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the Maharashtra chief minister recently, the Congress had hit out at the BJP for capturing power “unethically”.

The Jharkhand Congress also claimed that the huge amount of cash was part of a conspiracy by the BJP to topple the Hemant Soren government, of which it is a part along with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Howrah Superintendent of Police (Rural) Swati Bhangalia had said, “We had specific inputs that a huge amount of money was being transported in a black car. We started checking the vehicles and intercepted this SUV in which three Jharkhand MLAs were travelling. A huge amount of cash was found in the vehicle.”

Acting on a tip-off, the SUV in which MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari were travelling was intercepted on National Highway-16 at Ranihati in Panchla police station area, she said.

“We had specific input that a huge amount of money was being transported in a black car.

We started checking the vehicles, and intercepted this SUV in which three Jharkhand MLAs were travelling.

A huge amount of cash was found in the vehicle,” said Swati Bhangalia, the superintendent of police of Howrah (Rural).

“Cash counting machines are being brought in to ascertain the total amount. The MLAs are also being questioned about the source of the money and where it was being taken to,” she added.

Besides the MLAs, there were two other persons in the SUV, which had a board mentioning “MLA Jamtara Jharkhand” along with the Congress’s election symbol, police said.

Ansari is the MLA of Jamtara, while Kachchap is the legislator of Khijri in Ranchi district, and Kongari is the MLA of Kolebira in Simdega district.

The Jharkhand Congress claimed the huge amount of cash was part of a conspiracy by the BJP to topple the Hemant Soren government, of which it is a part along with Lalu Prasad’s RJD.

“It seems to be a conspiracy of the BJP. The BJP has been trying to destabilise the Hemant Soren government since it came to power. If we see what happened in Maharashtra and a few other states, it will be clear that the BJP uses money power to topple governments,” Jharkhand Congress working president Bandhu Tirkey told PTI.

“I would like to request the party high command to take stern action against these three MLAs so that a strong message could be sent out to other members of the party,” he added.

Tirkey was recently disqualified as an MLA after his conviction in a corruption case.

JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya told PTI that his party will be able to state its stand on the issue on Sunday.

The opposition BJP in Jharkhand rubbished Congress’s allegation.

BJP’s Jharkhand president Deepak Prakash told PTI the Congress MLAs should explain where did they get such a huge amount of cash.

Echoing the Congress, the ruling Trinamool Congress of West Bengal claimed the recovery of cash was made amid murmurs of horse trading and the possible toppling of the Jharkhand government.

“Amidst murmurs of horse-trading and the possible toppling of the Jharkhand Govt.3 @INCJharkhand were found carrying huge sums of cash to Bengal. What is the source of this money? Will any Central Agency take suo moto cognizance? Or do the rules apply to a select few? (sic)” the TMC tweeted.

Jharkhand’s Independent MLA Saryu Roy, who had defeated former chief minister Raghubar Das to bag the Jamshedpur East seat, asked the Congress to clarify whether the MLAs were returning to Jharkhand with cash or travelling to some other state from Jharkhand.

“Where is the source of money — Assam, Bengal or Jharkhand?” he asked.

West Bengal minister Shashi Panja demanded a thorough investigation into the matter.

“ED, are you taking a note or the matter is not grievous enough? Machines were brought in to count a huge amount of cash found in a vehicle in which three Jharkhand MLAs were travelling,” she said, alluding to the central agency’s investigation into the huge amount of cash found at properties linked to arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee.

Sources said the Howrah Rural Police was tipped off about the vehicle by the West Bengal CID.

This recovery comes amid the seizure of a huge amount of cash at properties linked to Chatterjee, who is being investigated in the school jobs scam.

Crores of rupees in cash were found in apartments of his aide Arpita Mukherjee, besides gold believed to be in kilograms, documents of properties and foreign exchange, forcing the TMC to suspend him and take away his ministerial portfolios.

-PTI