Jharkhand political crisis: Amid poaching fears, ruling UPA MLAs moved to Raipur

The MLAs of the ruling UPA coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight in a bid to thwart the BJP's possible attempt to poach them, and moved into a nearby luxurious resort.

In a bid to thwart the BJP's potential attempt to poach them, the MLAs of the ruling UPA coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight and moved into a nearby luxurious resort. 

The flight carrying about 40 MLAs took off from the Ranchi airport shortly after 4.30 pm. It arrived at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur, the capital of the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, around 5:30 pm. 

According to a local Congress official, three buses transported them to the Mayfair Lake resort in Nava Raipur.

He added that Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand, was not with them. Pilot cars escorted the buses carrying the Jharkhand MLAs as they travelled the roughly 10-kilometer distance to the resort.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, 49 members are members of the governing UPA coalition.

Media representatives were not permitted into the resort because of increased security measures. Prior to the arrival of the Jharkhand MLAs, a convoy of vehicles carrying VIPs and police was seen driving into the resort.

It was also stated that certain senior state Congress leaders had welcomed the MLAs.

As a result of worries over BJP poaching, Congress and its allies have moved their MLAs to Raipur three times in the past one and a half years.

The main opposition Congress in Haryana moved its MLAs to Raipur in June out of concern about cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha poll and to shield them from an alleged poaching attempt.

Prior to the vote tallying in April 2021, candidates from the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), which was a part of the Congress-led grand coalition during the Assam Assembly elections last year, were brought to Raipur.

According to Jharkhand Chief Minister Soren's JMM, there is a need to ringfence the lawmakers in a safe haven because the BJP may seriously attempt to poach MLAs from the party and from the allied Congress to topple the government in a way that is similar to Maharashtra.

The Election Commission issued its verdict to state governor Ramesh Bais on August 25 in response to a petition filed by the BJP calling for Soren to be removed from the Assembly due to allegations of using his position for personal gain.

There is a rumour that the election panel has recommended the chief minister be disqualified as an MLA, however, the EC has not yet made its judgement official. UPA supporters, the JMM, Congress, and the RJD accused the governor of fostering political horse-trading by "deliberately delaying" the announcement of the decision in a joint statement on August 28.

On September 1 at 4 p.m., the Jharkhand cabinet will convene. The Congress has 18 legislators, the RJD has one, and the JMM, which is the largest party, has 30 MLAs. There are 26 MLAs from the BJP, the main opposition party.

(With inputs from PTI)