The “cash for vote” scandal involving among others outgoing Mayor Rama Khalkho and Sunil Sahay, the brother of former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, has brought huge embarrassment for the party, which was trying to revive itself with the “good works” being carried out under the President's rule.
No senior leader has come on record to speak out on the issue or defend Sahay, who rushed to Delhi and camping since then there after the police seized Rs21.90 lakh in cash from a city hotel on April 7.
The Opposition parties, including BJP and JVM, have mounted pressure on the government to arrest Sahay on the ground that the former minister was present in the hotel when the cash was stocked in a room. The faction-ridden Congress is already under pressure from the JMM to form the Government or else face the consequences in the forthcoming elections.
“The incident has certainly dented the image of the party, who had been attacking the successive governments led by BJP for mis-governance and corruption. But we are waiting for the party leadership to take a stand on it. Till then, we will prefer to keep silent,” pointed out a senior party leader.
Sahay was instrumental in getting Rama Khalkho, who had earlier been associated with the Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch led by Bandhu Tirkey, to join the Congress ahead of the RMC elections.
A Congress insider said that Sahay, an MP from Ranchi, put up his weight behind Khalkho to ensure her victory in order to regain the ground which he lost during the Hatia byelection last year in which his younger brother Sunil Sahay had faced a humiliating defeat. “It was a sort of personal defeat for Sahay since he had got the ticket gifted to his younger brother amidst opposition from the rank and file of the party,” he pointed out.
“Had Khalkho been the victor, Sahay would have put up a brave face convincing the party leadership that he still enjoys public support in his constituency. So, it was under this mission that he persuaded Khalkho to join the Congress and fight the mayoral elections,” he added.
“Sahay happens to be perhaps the tallest Congress leader in Jharkhand and this episode had certainly sullied the image of the party,” pointed out a Congress leader, who is among the front runners for the state unit president's post.
A general secretary of the party also said that the incident was mishandled. Instead of running away from the scene, they would have faced the situation and boldly said that the money came from the donation from the party workers.
“We could have easily convinced the police that the party was planning to extend financial support to the candidates fighting ward councillors' and mayor's elections. It is not a secret that every party has to bear the expenses of booth agents on the polling day. They also need money to challenge the bogus vote,” he added.
“But now the damage has been done, which will be difficult to salvage even if they manage to wriggle out of the police clutches citing one technical reason or the other. Because, in politics public perception matters the most,” he added.
Congress Jharkhand in-charge Shakeel Ahmed said that he has sought a report from the State Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu as well as the party's legislative body leader Rajendra Prasad Singh. “We will consider any action only when we get the report. However, the law will take its own course in this case,” he pointed out but added that it is too early to say that the incident has affected the party's image.
Incidentally, Balmuchu, who otherwise in Sahay's opponent's camp, had said a couple of days back that he apprised the central leadership of the incident and was waiting for the guidelines to take a stand on the issue.