The Jharkhand Congress’ Working President Bandhu Tirkey on Monday urged supporters of the state’s ruling United Progressive Alliance to expose the wrongdoings of the Bharatiya Janata Party and even thrash its workers if required, the Hindustan Times reported.
He made the statement while addressing a protest in Ranchi by the coalition against the alleged misuse of central agencies and constitutional authorities by the BJP.
The leaders of the coalition, which comprises the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal, protested against summons by the Enforcement Directorate to Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering investigation related to an alleged mining scam. They also objected to searches by the income tax department against Congress MLAs Kumar Jaimangal and Pradip Yadav.
On Monday, Tirkey urged supporters of the alliance to “expose the design and conspiracy of the BJP” to topple the state government. “If required, also beat up the BJP workers,” he said. “Now people will say I am using unparliamentary language. But I am not concerned.”
The protest took place days after Governor Ramesh Bais said that he had sought a “second opinion” from the Election Commission on whether to disqualify Soren as an MLA in connection with an office-of-profit case.
The case pertains to a complaint filed by the BJP alleging that Soren allotted a mining lease in his name while holding the mining portfolio. Media reports had said in August that the Election Commission has recommended Bais to disqualify Soren as an MLA. However, the recommendation was not made public and Bais did not take any action.
On Monday, the Jharkhand Congress’ working president said that the alliance was not against action against corrupt persons, but was opposed to the misuse of investigative agencies for political ends.
Commenting on Tirkey’s statement, former chief minister and BJP national Vice President Raghubar Das said that no one should dare to attack BJP workers. He accused the Congress of engaging in corruption and inciting violence after having been caught.
“The Congress does not know what BJP workers are made of,” he asserted. “Violence has not scared us in Kerala and Bengal.”
Das added: “Today, BJP workers do not suffer thrashings, they respond in equal measure. No one should even touch [a BJP worker] by mistake.”
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