The Congress on Sunday shifted 16 of its 19 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly to Hyderabad in a bid to protect them from splitting away from the party ahead of the trust vote scheduled for February 12, reported The Indian Express.
The ruling coalition, comprising the Janata Dal (United), Bharatiya Janata Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha and an independent legislator, has a clear majority with 128 MLAs in the 253-member House. Despite this, Congress leaders have stated that the BJP may try to persuade its MLAs to defect with the intention of dealing a strong blow to the Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Mahagathbandhan currently includes the Congress, Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left parties.
“We have been hearing for some time about the BJP trying to split our party,” a Bihar Congress leader was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “They were first called to Delhi by the high command.”
Another party leader said that the party had been apprehensive about a split since the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra passed through the state on January 29 and 30.
The BJP, however, has rubbished the allegations as baseless.
“The Congress has been treating its MLAs like bonded labourers,” said senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha. “The allegations against us are baseless, they should learn to trust their legislators.”
Last week, Congress sent former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bupesh Baghel to Patna as a special observer after reports emerged that a section of its MLAs could not be contacted amid Chief Minister Nitish Kumar making preparations to switch sides and stitch an alliance with the BJP.
Meanwhile, Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLAs, who were shifted to Hyderabad after Hemant Soren resigned as the chief minister, returned to Ranchi on Sunday night ahead of the floor test in Jharkhand Assembly.
On Wednesday, Soren resigned as Jharkhand’s chief minister just before the Enforcement Directorate arrested him. The Enforcement Directorate is investigating allegations of money-laundering relating to the land scam in Ranchi.
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