The actions taken against three Jharkhand Congress MLAs, and a Ranchi-based lawyer, over the past three days by the West Bengal police has triggered a war of words among political parties over an alleged ‘tacit understanding’ between the Mamta Banerjee and Hemant Soren-led state governments to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party and central government.
Three Congress legislators were arrested on Sunday following hours of questioning after unaccounted cash amounting to ₹49 lakh was recovered from the car they were travelling in on Saturday evening. Congress suspended the three saying that they were trying to topple the Hemant Soren government in collusion with the BJP.
The Howrah police claimed they acted on specific “intelligence inputs” about the legislators moving with cash.
On Sunday, Ranchi-based lawyer Rajiv Kumar, with a reputation of filing public interest litigations (PIL), was arrested on Sunday with ₹50 lakh cash, allegedly extorted from a Kolkata-based businessman.
Kumar is currently appearing on behalf of petitioner Shiv shankar Sharma who has filed two PILs seeking CBI inquiry against Soren. He is also the counsel for Arun Kumar Dubey who has filed a PIL related to MNREGA scam that led to arrest of mines secretary Pooja Singhal by the Enforcement Doctorate.
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While the Jharkhand police on Monday specifically issued a statement denying of having any role, even to the extent of sharing any input, in arrest of Kumar. However, not many are impressed with the defence, at least not the opposition.
“The Hemant Soren government is now resorting to vendetta politics. The arresting of advocate Rajiv Kumar who has been fighting cases against the state government related to illegal mining and corruption on signals from the government points towards it. But they would not be able to hide their deeds for long, the truth would come out,” said Jharkhand BJP chief Deepak Prakash.
Reacting to the charge, JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey accused the BJP of double standards. “Forget about the Jharkhand police, they are accusing us when West Bengal police is taking legal action. The MLAs and the lawyer were caught red handed with huge amounts of cash in Kolkata. What has the state government or the Jharkhand police to do with it. Moreover, the BJP is making these allegations whose central government agencies are targeting opposition arbitrarily,” said Pandey.
While the ruling JMM might be ruling out any direct understanding with the TMC-led West Bengal government, those aware of the developments in political parties said the behind-the-scene alliance was visible.
“The TMC has its own agenda in this. They have got a good reason to divert attention from the controversy surrounding the arrest of [ex-WB minister] Partha Chatterjee. Also, there is consenting the fact they find a common enemy in the BJP. After all even Hemant Soren had campaigned for her in the tribal belt in 2021 assembly polls,” said a senior BJP legislator, who was not willing to be named.
Insiders in the ruling establishment, however, said the police action in West Bengal has brought some “relief” for the Soren government, which of late has been battling crisis, especially due to the allegations against the chief minister and his close aides.
“Operation Lotus is being carried out in the state for the past two years. But the police action has given the dissenters a strong message, bringing some relief for the government. While nothing can be predicted in politics these days, I don’t think the other MLAs would try something outrageous at least for next few weeks or even months,” said a senior JMM legislator, who was not willing to be named.
“However, a lot will depend on how deftly the Congress manages to keep its flock. The matter of [disqualification of] Hemant Soren is with the Election Commission and is likely to drag for some more time. The hearing in HC is also listed towards end of this month. So, we can surely breathe for some relief,” the legislator added.
Leaders in the Congress said the party leadership could make some changes in the cabinet in order to assuage the complaints of some of its legislators.
“We cannot rule out the change of face from Congress quota in the cabinet, by dropping one or two old faces. We are told that is being considered at the top level and it could happen after the monsoon session,” a senior Congress leader said.
The BJP leaders who walked out of the assembly on Monday demanding the state government to announce drought in the state, said the party is likely to up its ante against the government in the assembly from Tuesday.
“We feel that this government would anyway fall due to its own contradictions. But from our side, the real protest would begin from Tuesday, with demand of resignation of the chief minister. His assembly representative is in jail. His press advisor has been summoned by the ED but he is mum on those issues,” said a senior BJP legislator.