After Jharkhand Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh filed a complaint saying three of his party legislators who were arrested in West Bengal recently with a large amount of cash had also offered him a visit to Guwahati to meet Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and strike a deal to topple the JMM-led government in his state, the Bharatiya Janata Party has hit back.
A senior minister of Sarma’s cabinet, Pijush Hazarika, tweeted photographs of the Assam CM and Jaimangal to claim that the two were regularly in touch and the Jharkhand MLA’s claims were baseless.
Sharing some FACTS about the baseless allegations by Jharkhand @INCIndia MLA @KumarJaimangal:
– Jharkhand Cong MLA @KumarJaimangal made a fake allegation that the 3 arrested MLA’s had lured him to meet Hon’ble CM Dr.@himantabiswa sir. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/y4zz9KHiwV
— Pijush Hazarika (@Pijush_hazarika) August 2, 2022
5 days before filing the fabricated FIR, Hon’ble CM Dr.@himantabiswa sir took him to the Residence of the Hon’ble Union Coal Minister Shri @JoshiPralhad ji at 9 am of 26th July, 2022 in order to help him in his trade union related matter. (2/3)
— Pijush Hazarika (@Pijush_hazarika) August 2, 2022
Mr. @KumarJaimangal has been regularly meeting HCM Dr.@himantabiswa sir. He should face the law for making a fraudulent allegation against Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam and against those tribal MLAs. (3/3)
— Pijush Hazarika (@Pijush_hazarika) August 2, 2022
Minutes after Pijush’s posts, Himanta Biswa Sarma endorsed his tweets on the social media site and said that Jaimangal’s accusations were false.
Fake FIR in #Jharkhand.
The so-called FIR looks like @INCIndia asking Ottavio Quattrocchi to file a case against Bofors. https://t.co/WMDHtxrAzA— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 2, 2022
Three Congress legislators — Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap, and Naman Bixal Kongari — were arrested in Bengal on Sunday after a huge amount of cash was allegedly seized from a car in which they were travelling.
The Congress, which is part of the JMM-led government in Jharkhand, alleged that the BJP was trying to topple the government there by a offering ministerial berth and Rs 10 crore each as bribe to its MLAs.
Jaimangal had filed a complaint in Ranchi on Sunday claiming that Kachchap and Bixal Kongari had asked him to travel to Kolkata and offered him money, while Ansari wanted to take him to Guwahati from Kolkata to attend a meeting with Sarma.
However, sources in the BJP told News18 that on July 26 at 9am in Delhi, Jaimangal had a breakfast meeting with Himanta Biswa Sarma and union coal minister Pralhad Joshi. Then on July 31, he filed the FIR, claiming that the 3 arrested MLAs tried to lure him into meeting the Assam CM.
Speaking to News18 on Tuesday, Jaimangal said the pictures tweeted by Hazarika were from a meeting regarding restrictions put on the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) of which he is a member, and that his party and the Jharkhand chief minister knew about it.
After the 3 Jharkhand Congress MLAs were held with about Rs 45 lakh in their vehicle, the West Bengal government swiftly transferred the case to the Criminal Investigation Department and the probe is on.
Sources in CID say that the legislators visited Guwahati twice, and Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress is alleging that this was part of the BJP’s attempts to bring down the Jharkhand government.
TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “A BJP connection is there and we have raised the point.”
Read all the Latest News and Breaking News here