Cong suspends 3 MLAs, party alleges bid to topple Jharkhand govt

Congress on Sunday suspended its three Jharkhand MLAs who were caught with cash in West Bengal.

Cong suspends 3 MLAs, party alleges bid to topple Jharkhand govt

New Delhi , July 31 (IANS) Congress on Sunday suspended its three Jharkhand MLAs who were caught with cash in West Bengal.

Addressing a press conference, Congress General Secretary in charge Avinash Pandey said, "the three MLAs are suspended with immediate effect."

On Saturday, the three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand were detained in West Bengal's Howrah district by the police after cash worth more than Rs 48 lakh was seized from a vehicle in which all of them were travelling.

The vehicle belonged to one of the three Congress legislators who was detained on Saturday evening along with the other two party MLAs.

The three detained Congress MLAs -- Irfan Ansari from Jamtara Assembly constituency, Rajesh Kachhap from Khijri (Scheduled Tribe) Assembly constituency and Naman Bixal Kongari from Kolebira (Scheduled Tribe) Assembly constituency. They have told the police that the cash was meant for purchasing sarees from the renowned wholesale market at Burrabazar in central Kolkata.

Earlier, the the Congress has alleged that 'operation lotus' stands exposed, which is meant to topple the alliance governments in the state.

The Congress has sought a report from its state unit.

"The game plan of 'Hum Do' in Delhi is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra by installing E-D duo," tweeted Jairam Ramesh.