Three Jharkhand Congress MLAs, who were held with a mountain of cash in Bengal, suspended

New Delhi: The three Jharkhand Congress MLAs, who were held with a mountain of cash in West Bengal, were on Sunday (July 31, 2022) suspended from the party. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters in the national capital, party's general secretary and Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pande informed that 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 legislative party in Jharkhand and also in "misleading" other MLAs.

The suspension comes a day after police intercepted an SUV in which Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari were traveling on national highway-16 at Ranihati in Howrah and found a huge amount of cash in the vehicle.

"The party leadership is aware of who all are part of the conspiracy and will take action at an appropriate time," Pande said.

"We have information on everyone. In the coming days, be it any public representative, party's office bearer, or any worker, whoever is found connected or involved in this, the party will take strict action against them," said Pande.

He asserted that the JMM-led government is completely "secure and stable" and the coalition MLAs, "barring a few black sheep", will fight such attempts in a united manner and complete the term.

LIVE: Congress Party briefing by Shri @avinashpandeinc and Shri @Pawankhera at AICC HQ.
https://t.co/pt14XMJqBd — Congress (@INCIndia) July 31, 2022

Accusing the BJP of attempting to topple the Jharkhand government, Pande said that democracy is being "shredded to pieces" as democratically elected governments are being destabilised in a brazen manner.

"Efforts being made from the last two years to destabilise the government in Jharkhand and from time to time legislators are contacted, threatened and enticed," he alleged.

An FIR was also registered in the connection some days ago against BJP leaders, Pande said.

"In these efforts, a chief minister of a state is involved and is contacting MLAs directly and Union ministers are threatening MLAs," Pande claimed without naming anyone.

Govt agencies working as extended arm of BJP: Congress

Pande also alleged that the Enforcement Directorate had been misused to effect a change of government in Maharashtra.

Congress' media department head Pawan Khera said that the government agencies, instead of doing their job, were working as an extended arm of the BJP to destabilise elected governments.

Besides the MLAs, there were two other people in the SUV, which carried a board mentioning "MLA Jamtara Jharkhand" along with the Congress' election symbol, police said.

#Watch: Huge cash recovery in #WestBengal’s Howrah area from a vehicle in which three Jharkhand MLAs - Rajesh Kachhap MLA KHIJRI AC, Naman Bixal Kongari- MLA KOLEBIRA & Irfan Ansari,
MLA JAMTARA were travelling. Counting still on. pic.twitter.com/kvPiP6NBi5 — Pooja Mehta (@pooja_news) July 30, 2022

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

BJP's 'Operation Lotus' in Jharkhand exposed: Congress

Earlier on Saturday, Congress accused the BJP of trying to topple its coalition government in Jharkhand after three of its MLAs were caught with a huge amount of cash in Howrah. The grand old party said that the BJP's game plan is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra.

"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," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter.

झारखंड में भाजपा का 'ऑपरेशन लोटस' आज की रात हावड़ा में बेनकाब हो गया। दिल्ली में 'हम दो' का गेम प्लान झारखंड में वही करने का है जो उन्होंने महाराष्ट्र में एकनाथ-देवेंद्र(E-D) की जोड़ी से करवाया। — Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 30, 2022

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.

(With agency inputs)