UPA MLAs from Jharkhand shifted to Raipur to ‘protect them’ from BJP’s poaching bid, says Chhattisgarh CM Baghel

Raipur Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on August 31 said the UPA coalition government in

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on August 31 said the UPA coalition government in Jharkhand shifted its MLAs to Raipur to protect them from being poached in view of the BJP’s “horse-trading” tactics.

Thirty-two MLAs of the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition in Jharkhand flew to Raipur by a chartered flight on August 30 and were taken to Mayfair Golf Resort in Nava Raipur.

Mr. Baghel met the MLAs at the resort on August 30 night.

He was talking to reporters on August 31 morning at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur before leaving for Himachal Pradesh where he has been appointed as senior observer by the Congress for the coming Assembly polls.

“Alliance partners JMM and Congress in Jharkhand decided to bring their MLAs to Chhattisgarh to protect them considering the way the BJP has indulged in horse-trading,” Mr. Baghel said.

“Recently three MLAs [of the Congress in Jharkhand] were held in West Bengal [with cash]. The Election Commission has sent some letters to Jharkhand Raj Bhavan and it has now been a week, but that communiqué is yet to be opened. It indicates something is cooking inside,” the Congress leader further said.

On BJP leader Raman Singh’s accusation that the Congress Government in Chhattisgarh had turned the State into a “den of immoral acts”, Mr. Baghel asked why he did not say anything when the MLAs of other parties in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan were shifted (to the States ruled by the BJP).