The Calcutta high court on Saturday granted interim bail to three MLAs from Jharkhand who were nabbed in Howrah with cash worth over ₹50 lakh. The three MLAs – Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari, Khijri's Rajesh Kachhap and Kolebira's Naman Bixal – had been suspended by the Congress following their arrest in July-end amid reports that they were on their way to Guwahati to meet senior BJP leader and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to topple the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand.
Speaking to reporters after being granted bail, Ansari said the money recovered from the MLAs belonged to them and they had been trapped wrongfully for political gains. He further said that they were Congress loyalists and would never join the BJP.
“The CM has trapped us wrongfully for political gains. The money recovered was ours. We have Congress blood in our veins, we can never join BJP. Three MLAs can anyway not bring down a government,” Ansari was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
{{/usCountry}}“The CM has trapped us wrongfully for political gains. The money recovered was ours. We have Congress blood in our veins, we can never join BJP. Three MLAs can anyway not bring down a government,” Ansari was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
{{/usCountry}}Also read | Congress alleges 'Operation Lotus' as 3 J'khand MLAs caught with cash in Bengal
At least nine-10 of the 18 Congress legislators in Jharkhand had cross-voted in favour of the NDA candidate in the July 18 presidential elections.
During the questioning, the MLAs had reportedly said they had planned to buy the sarees from Kolkata's wholesale market at Burrabazar where rates are reasonable. They had also said they had planned to visit Burrabazar on Monday after spending a day at Mandarmani, a popular beach in East Midnapore district.
'Operation lotus'
The Congress said the BJP was making another effort to topple the democratically elected governments. "The way democracy is being razed today, it will be written in black letters in history. Today there is an open conspiracy going on in the country to destabilise the democratically elected governments,” party leader Pawan Khera had said at a press briefing following the suspension of the MLAs.
The BJP had led similar attempts in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Khera said, adding, “Now, they are eyeing Jharkhand”.