Assam CM named in FIR for ‘plotting to topple’ Soren govt

Speculation and allegations of a deep political plot played out following the confiscation of Rs 49 lakh in the car of three Jharkhand Congress MLAs travelling through Bengal Saturday, as a fellow party legislator accused the trio in an FIR Sunday of trying to bribe him at the behest of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP bigwigs to topple the Hemant Soren-led coalition government in the state.

- ASRP Mukesh & Kangkan Kalita

Ranchi/Guwahati/New Delhi: Kumar Jaimangal, the Congress MLA for Bermo, lodged an FIR in Ranchi in which he accused the MLA trio—Irfan Ansari (Jamtara), Naman Bixal Kongari (Kolebira) and Rajesh Kachchap (Khijri)—of trying to offer him Rs 10 crore and a ministerial berth in a new state government.

Sarma responded that he has known Jaimangal for 20 years. “Directly or indirectly there has always been a connection with me. There is no need for any middlemen to bring him to me,” he said. The Assam CM said Congress veterans are in touch with him too.

“They don’t talk politics with me. But when a person (Sarma) was with a party (Congress) for 22 years, the relationship will definitely be there. I don’t know what happened to Congress, which has gone to file an FIR for this,” he wondered.