Jharkhand Congress chief alleges 'conspiracy' to destabilize state govt after 3 MLAs nabbed with cash in Howrah

After three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand were nabbed with a huge amount of cash in West Bengal's Howrah on Saturday, state party chief Rajesh Thakur claimed that there is a conspiracy to destabilize the government.

The Congress leader referred to the Maharashtra political crisis that ended last month with the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray government after a faction of Shiv Sena MLAs revolted against the party chief, and stayed in Assam's Guwahati.

Earlier on Saturday, three legislators were apprehended including Irfan Ansari, MLA from Jamtara, Rajesh Kachhap, MLA from Khijri and Naman Bixal, MLA from Kolebira. The huge cash was recovered from their cars in Howarah on Saturday evening.

Speaking to ANI, Thakur said, "Everyone saw how Assam became the focal point to topple governments, drama happened for 15 days and ultimately the Maharashtra govt was toppled... this indicates that there's a conspiracy to destabilize the Jharkhand government. Things will be clearer in coming times."

However, the Congress state chief said that the incident is saddening and the state unit will submit a report to the party's high command on the matter.

"It won't be reasonable to talk about it till the probe is done, but looking at the country's situation... nabbed MLAs can better explain the matter. However, the incident is saddening. We'll submit a report to our high command. No one involved is to be spared," he said.

Earlier, Jharkhand Congress alleged a conspiracy by the BJP to destabilise the state government.

"It is in BJP's nature to try and destabilize any government which is not theirs. The same has been done against Chief Minister Hemant Soren's government. The only reason they were given money (by BJP) is to make the government fall," Bandhu Tirkey, Jharkhand Congress working President told ANI.

Hitting out at Congress, after the incident, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said since the formation of the government in the state corruption is rampant.

"Ever since their government came to power, corruption is on a rise. Earlier too, large amounts of cash were caught in Jharkhand at officers' homes. They use the public's hard-earned money for other purposes. Police caught them and it came to light," Aditya Sahu, Jharkhand BJP state general secretary said.

( With inputs from ANI )