Assam CM terms Jharkhand Congress MLA’s FIR against him as ‘fake’

Guwahati, Aug. 2 (IANS): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday slammed Jharkhand Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal for filing an FIR against him, accusing Sarma of trying to topple the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand.

Terming the FIR as ‘fake’, Sarma said that it looks like Congress is asking Ottavio Quattrocchi to file a case against Bofors.

Earlier on Tuesday, state minister and Sarma’s close aide Pijush Hazarika posted several images of the Chief Minister and Jaimangal meeting each other a few days back.

Hazarika tweeted: “Sharing some FACTS about the baseless allegations levelled by Jharkhand @INCIndia MLA Kumar Jaimangal who made a fake allegation that the 3 arrested MLAs had lured him to meet Hon’ble CM Dr. @himantabiswa sir.”

He claimed that five days before the ‘fabricated’ FIR was filed, Sarma had taken Jaimangal to the residence of Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on July 26 in order to help the Congress legislator in a trade union-related matter.

“Mr. @KumarJaimangal has been regularly meeting HCM Dr. @himantabiswa sir. He should face the law for making a fraudulent allegation against Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam and against those tribal MLAs,” Hazarika said in another tweet.

Meanwhile, Jaimangal on Tuesday admitted that he had met Sarma along with Pralhad Joshi to discuss trade-related matters.

Earlier, based on a complaint filed by Jaimagal, Jharkhand police had registered an FIR.

In his complaint, Jaimangal had claimed that his fellow Congress MLAs — Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari — had called him to Kolkata for a meeting with Sarma in Guwahati, alleging that he was promised a ministerial birth if he helped overthrow the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand.

He further alleged that besides a ministerial berth, he was also offered Rs 10 crore to destabilise the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand.