Jharkhand Congress chief alleges BJP tried to woo newly-elected Congress MLAs to try topple govt

There was a political flutter in Jharkhand after the Pradesh Congress Committee Chief, Rameshwar Oraon, who is also Minister in-charge of Finance and Food & Civil Supplies in the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition in the state, alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party hasbeen making efforts to woo newly-elected Congress MLAs, alluring them to join the BJP bandwagon.

This is how the BJP is trying to re-enact the drama the saffron brigade unsuccessfully staged recently in Rajasthan, the PCC chief alleged, and said that BJP’s successful bid in Madhya Pradesh and other states seems to have prompted it to repeat it in Jharkhand too.

Rameshwar Oraon revealed that four first timer Congress legislators confided to him about attempts by BJP leaders to offer them various temptations to switch over to BJP to enable it destabilize the coalition government headed by Hemant Soren and enable it to foist a BJP-led government in Jharkhand.

He said that BJP leaders were not able to reconcile themselves to be out of power after ruling the state for more than 17 years after the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000.

The PCC chief also said that BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ was also undertaken by its leaders during recently held Rajya Sabha poll when they made an unsuccessful bid to seek Congress MLAs support and offer them monetary benefits. He, however, ruled out any split in the Congress fold and said that even the Party High Command has been watching over the situation.

He added that he, along with the Congress Legislature Party chief and a Minister, Alamgir Alam, too have apprised the Chief Minister Hemant Soren of the nefarious activities indulged in by the BJP leaders.

The PCC chief also said that the main reason for such unsuccessful attempt by the BJP leaders was the good performance of the Hemant Soren government on all fronts, be it containing the COVID-19 pandemic or bringing back lakhs of migrant labours back to their homes in Jharkhand as well as enforcing plans to rehabilitate them by providing them food, shelter and jobs under various schemes.

He also said that BJP leaders are feeling distressed after the Chief Minister stalled the attempt by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for commercial auction of coal blocks in the mineral rich state. The state government has moved the Supreme Court for the same and its decision was awaited.