Coming into defence of troubled Baghmara MlA of the BJP Dhullu Mahto, the Government denied having received any letter from the Russian Embassy naming him. The denial came in the Assembly on Wednesday at the time when the MlA is under fire from all quarters for allegedly seeking ransom from an Indian associate of a Russian firm working in BCCl’s Dhanbad coal mine area.
The statement came when JVM’s Pradeep Yadav mentioned about the allegations labelled against the MlA in his speech on ‘Thanks Giving Motion’. “We can understand overall law and order situation in the State and situation of the common man when an MlA of the ruling party is indulged into seeking ransom from an investor. Whereas the CM with his strong team is in Mumbai to lure investors,” said Yadav.
On this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Roy made strong objection and interjected questioning about the veracity of the said letter. “The Government has not received any such letter the member is talking about. From where and how the member has got the letter and whether the letter is genuine, I am not sure. He should take responsibility of the authenticity of the letter,” retorted the Minister.
This churned heated arguments between the two and the JVM leader defended his statement quoting media reports and also the subsequent statements coming from Dhanbad DC and SP. “I owe the responsibility of its authenticity that the letter has been written to the Chief Minister. Based on that the DC and SP have been told to probe into the matter,” said Yadav. Roy, however, even denied having directed the district administration for any investigation into the matter.
The controversy snowballed when an Indian associate ‘DDP-N Company’ of the Russian firm ‘IZ-KARTEX’—which works for maintenance of four EKG-10 shovels at two sites of Dhanbad— sent a letter dated January 27 through Russian Embassy addressing Chief Minister Raghubar Das. In its letter, the Russian consulate general based at Kolkata had alleged Dhullu Mahto for repeatedly organising strikes and seeking monthly payment and jobs for his 40 men and passing threats to officials, which the MlA denied outrightly.
later, Marxist Coordination Committee’s Arup Chatterjee also referred to the allegation, saying that the reported act of Mahto had “punctured the balloon of ‘Make in India’ in the State and other pro-investment measures.” This brought the BJP members on their feet, which was also joined by Dhullu Mahto himself. He objected to the repeated mentioning of his name into the case and again sought a probe to clear the air.
A similar scene was also created when Yadav, quoting a probe report of IG Anurag Gupta and DIG Tadasa Mishra subsequently on the communal clashes of Ranchi and Hazaribagh, said that it had named some rightwing organisations and indicated towards grave police inaction. He also demanded to set up an SIT on the communal flairs.
The submission was objected by Urban Development Minister CP Singh who termed it politically motivated and an act of appeasement. He also questioned the genuineness of the said report saying whether it was the ‘final report’.