Jharkhand MLA claims he too was asked to meet Assam CM, Sarma says ‘old friends’

Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh his colleagues arrested in Bengal had asked him to meet Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati where he would have been promised a ministerial berth and cash worth crores after bringing down the JMM-Congress government in the state.

Updated on: Jul 31, 2022, 20:06:45 IST

By HT News Desk | Written by Sohini Goswami, New Delhi

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A Congress MLA from Jharkhand has now alleged that his colleagues arrested in Bengal over seizure of cash worth lakhs 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.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma talks to reporters on Sunday. (ANI)

The legislator from Bermo, Kumar Jaimangal Singh, addressed the complaint letter to the Argora police station in Ranchi.

However, Biswa, a key leader of the BJP in the northeast, denied the allegations and said even top leaders of the Congress are in touch with him, adding he has no idea why a complaint has been registered against him in this regard. Sarma had switched over to the BJP in 2015 and was offered the top post in Assam after the 2021 Assembly

“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 an FIR was filed on this,” Sarma was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

In his complaint, Singh said he was asked by the arrested Congress MLAs to come to Kolkata and leave for Guwahati together. Besides ₹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.

The three MLAs – were intercepted late on Saturday night in Howrah district along with a huge stash of cash, following which they were questioned overnight. A blame-game has begun among the ruling and Opposition camps over the seizure.

Besides Ansari, the two others MLAs in spotlight are Rajesh Kachhap, Naman Bixal Kongari. The trio have been suspended by the Congress.

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