Is Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma behind the rumblings in the Jharkhand Congress?

The Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand is jittery as there are concerns that it will go the way of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra. The concerns have once again come to the surface after Congress suspended three Jharkhand MLAs — Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari — who were allegedly caught with a huge amount of cash in West Bengal’s Howrah. After the arrest and subsequent suspension of the three MLAs, Jharkhand Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to topple the JMM-Congress coalition government in Jharkhand and claimed that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had a major role to play in it. Incidentally, the Shiv Sena had also accused Sarma of engineering the split within the party, which saw Uddhav Thackeray stepping down as chief minister of Maharashtra. Here’s a closer look at the situation in Jharkhand and why the Congress is accusing the BJP of attempting to topple its coalition government in the state. Churning in Jharkhand Congress On Saturday evening, acting on a tip-off, the West Bengal Police intercepted a sports utility vehicle (SUV) in which Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari were travelling, and allegedly found nearly Rs 50 lakh in cash in the car. After questioning, the lawmakers were formally arrested on Sunday afternoon and subsequently, remanded to the West Bengal CID’s custody for 10 days. Later, the Jharkhand unit of the Congress announced that they had suspended the three MLAs and also accused the BJP of attempting to topple its coalition government in the state. The state is run by a coalition of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Party general secretary and Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pande said Congress president Sonia Gandhi has suspended the three MLAs with immediate effect. Pande said the three MLAs were allegedly involved in a plot to weaken the Congress Legislature Party in Jharkhand and also in “misleading” other legislators. “The party leadership is aware of who all are part of the conspiracy and will take action at an appropriate time,” he added. The ‘misleading’ allegation came after Bermo MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh said that his colleagues arrested in Bengal had asked him to meet Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati along with them where he would have been promised a ministerial berth and cash worth crores after bringing down the JMM-Congress government in the tribal-dominated state.

In his letter to the Argora police station in Ranchi, Singh further wrote that the Assam chief minister “is doing it with the blessings of top shots of BJP political party sitting in Delhi.” Also read: Will Jharkhand go the Maharashtra way? What JMM’s support for Droupadi Murmu could mean The claims prompted Pande to accuse the BJP of “shredding democracy to pieces”. “Efforts are being made for the last two years to destabilise the government in Jharkhand and from time to time, legislators are being contacted, threatened and enticed,” he alleged. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also wrote on Twitter: “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.”

Assam’s Sarma refutes claims Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, has refuted all claims of trying to topple the Jharkhand government and added that he continues to be in contact with Congress leaders because of his long association with the party. “Even topmost persons of Congress keep in touch with me. We don’t talk about politics but being in a party for over 22 years, we keep in touch. I don’t know why FIR was filed on this,” Chief Minister Sarma was quoted as saying on allegations by Kumar Jaimangal Singh. Talking to ANI, BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said, “Whenever Congress or leaders from the Jharkhand government land up in any difficulty they immediately start using the word ‘destabilisation’ like Pakistan’s government use Kashmir word. But they cannot escape by blaming BJP.” Reminder of Maharashtra Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pande told The Federal that the Jharkhand situation was reminiscent of what happened in Maharashtra. “We saw this recently in Maharashtra and in the aborted attempt in Goa , where despite winning the election, the BJP still wanted to break our legislative party by engineering defections… they came to power using the same tactics in the past in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and several other states too and now, Jharkhand is their new target. Pande alleged that the Assam CM, “who had played a key role in the BJP’s plan of toppling the MVA government in Maharashtra and had hosted the Shiv Sena’s rebel MLAs at a Guwahati hotel for weeks”, was now in “direct touch with our MLAs in Jharkhand”. Before toppling the Maharashtra government, Eknath Shinde had taken his group of breakaway MLAs and stayed at Radisson Blu , a luxury hotel in Guwahati, purportedly under the patronage of the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government. Rumour mills had begun churning after Sarma had visited the luxury hotel on the day the legislators from Maharashtra had reached the city, while senior state ministers and police officers were seen at the hotel regularly during their stay. When accused by the Shiv Sena of trying to destabilise the Maharashtra government, Sarma had said, “Some people have come to Assam. They booked hotels. I am happy for that. You also come; it will help Assam’s economy. Through this, Assam’s tourism is also getting promoted.” Speaking on the Opposition’s jibe related to violation of federal structure, he had said, “How can I stop people from coming to a hotel? Can I tell you not to come to a hotel in Assam because there is a federal structure in the country? I am happy when anyone comes to Assam, they can stay as long as they want,” he added. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .