GUWAHATI: “Is he (Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma) the new Godfather of horse-trading and cross-voting?”
This was questioned by Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah after a Jharkhand MLA filed an FIR alleging that the three arrested party legislators from the state invited him to Guwahati to meet Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to discuss topping of the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand.
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“Few (Congress) MLAs (of Jharkhand) were offered cash to do the dirty work,” the Assam Congress chief further alleged.
Notably, three MLAs of the Congress party from Jharkhand were arrested by Bengal police in Howrah after they were allegedly caught with a large hoard of cash on Saturday.
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On Sunday, a Jharkhand Congress MLA filed a complaint against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the seizure of cash worth crores of rupees from three party MLAs in Bengal.
Also read: Assam is focal point of toppling non-BJP governments: Jharkhand Congress chief
Congress MLA from Bermo, Kumar Jaimangal Singh in a complaint lodged against Sarma with the Argora police station in Ranchi alleged that his colleagues, who were arrested in Bengal, had asked him to meet the Assam chief minister in Guwahati along with them.
Singh alleged that he was supposed to be promised a ministerial berth and cash worth crores of rupees after bringing down the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand.
In his complaint, Singh alleged he was asked by the arrested Jharkhand Congress MLAs to come to Kolkata and leave for Guwahati in Assam together.
Besides Rs 10 crore for each MLA, Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari told him that he had been promised the health minister’s post in the new government of the BJP.
“He assured me that Sarma is doing it with the blessings of the top shots in the BJP sitting in Delhi,” Singh further wrote in his letter.
However, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has denied the allegations and said he has no idea why a complaint has been registered against him in this regard.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur has said that the Northeast state of Assam, in recent times, has become the focal point of toppling non-BJP governments in the country.
“The BJP is constantly conspiring to topple state governments in the country with conspiracies being played out from Assam,” the Jharkhand Congress chief said.
Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur said, “Everyone saw how Assam became the focal point to topple governments, drama happened for 15 days and ultimately the Maharashtra government was toppled… this indicates that there’s a conspiracy to destabilize the Jharkhand government. Things will be clearer in coming times.”
This statement from the Jharkhand Congress president came after a Congress legislator from the state claimed that the three arrested party MLAs had approached him to meet Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati to discuss toppling of the Jharkhand government.