Jharkhand MLAs arrested with cash: Why is ED silent, asks TMC

The Trinamool Congress has asked why the Enforcement Directorate is silent on the recovery of huge unaccounted cash from the vehicle of suspended Congress lawmakers from Jharkhand.

The TMC also demanded that the role of Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari needs to be looked into in the light of the recovery of the money, as he had recently remarked that "after Maharashtra, it will be Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal." Acting on a tip-off, the West Bengal Police intercepted an SUV in Howrah on Saturday evening in which Congress MLAs of Jharkhand were travelling and allegedly found nearly half a crore of rupees in it. After questioning, they were formally arrested on Sunday afternoon.

The TMC’s statement came in the backdrop of the seizure of crores of rupees in cash by the ED from two flats of a woman, considered close to the now suspended senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee. Both were arrested by the central agency in connection with the school jobs scam.

The Congress on Sunday alleged the BJP was trying to topple the JMM-led government in Jharkhand by offering Rs 10 crore to each MLA. “Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had spoken about forming governments in non-NDA ruled states such as Jharkhand. We want an inquiry to check if the recovered money is part of the conspiracy to topple the democratically-elected Jharkhand government," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

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After a recent change of guard in Maharashtra, Adhikari had twice said that the JMM-led coalition government in Jharkhand and TMC dispensation in West Bengal, too, will meet a similar fate, and much before their tenure ends.

The BJP’s West Bengal unit dubbed the allegations as baseless.

"The BJP is in no way involved in it. We think the TMC was trying to smuggle out the illegal cash it had earned through the school recruitment scam," BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.