Four Jharkhand ministers fly back to Ranchi from Raipur; one more MLA shifted to resort

        One of the ministers said they are going back to Ranchi for a Cabinet meeting scheduled on September 1

Four ministers of the ruling UPA coalition in Jharkhand returned to Ranchi on August 31 evening, a day after they and 28 MLAs were shifted to a resort near the Chhattisgarh capital in view of political developments in their home State.

One of the ministers said they are going back to Ranchi for a Cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Jharkhand minister Satyanand Bhokta and MLA Pradeep Yadav flew to Raipur in a chartered plane, a local Congress leader said.

While Mr. Bhokta accompanied four ministers namely Alamgir Alam, Banna Gupta, Rameshwar Oraon, and Badal Patralekh — who were staying at the resort — on the return flight, Mr. Yadav was shifted to Mayfair Golf resort in Nava Raipur where his colleagues from Jharkhand are sequestered.

Also Read | Shadow over Soren: On uncertainty over Jharkhand CM continuation

“We [ministers] are going back for a Cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday. What the BJP has done in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa, it wanted to replicate it in Jharkhand. There are reports that our CM has been disqualified while the Election Commission's decision is yet to be made public. Although we are not afraid as we have numbers," Mr. Alam told reporters at Raipur airport.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday flew its 32 MLAs to Raipur to prevent the BJP's alleged attempts to poach its legislators and shifted them to the luxurious resort in Nava Raipur.