Five more Jharkhand MLAs under scanner

The government has notified my membership. But I have not drawn any salary and perks8212;Sukh Ram Oraon JMM

These MLAs, along with two others, are the latest to face the charge of holding offices of profit in Jharkhand. Of them four, including Hansda and Oraon, were appointed by the state government as members of the Tribal Advisory Council, a statutory body.

After Governor Syed Sibtey Razi drew flak from the ruling BJP for sending the names of TAC members belonging to the NDA to the EC on Friday, ex-Additional Advocate General S L Barnwal submitted a memorandum to him alleging that Mahto and four TAC members8212;Hansda from the Congress and Amulya Sardar, Sushila Hansda and Oraon from the JMM8212;also held offices of profit and should, as such, be disqualified.

In response, Razi has forwarded their names to the EC8212;he had earlier sent 14 names, including that of Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who holds a post in a state government-owned company, Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Ltd.

Of these 19 MLAs, 14 belong to the ruling BJP, one to the JDU, and four are drawn from the UPA.

Since the Arjun Munda government survives with the support of 43 MLAs in a House of 81, the disqualification of just a couple of MLAs from the ruling coalition can cause it to lose its majority.

There is yet another problem for the ruling BJP. Three of its MLAs8212;Chatru Ram Mahto, Ashok Kumar and Bishnu Bhaiya8212;who figured in the list Razi forwarded, are learned to have concealed information from the EC about their credentials.

As per the law, no one is allowed to stand for elections if he holds an office of profit. But Mahto contested the Assembly polls last year while he was chairman of the state Agriculture Marketing Board; similarly, Kumar had contested the same polls without tendering his resignation from the post of chairman of the 20-Point Programme.

Bhaiya8217;s EC nomination form does not mention the fact that the Jamtara district sessions court had issued a warrant of arrest against him in a case related to unlawful assembly, scuffle and assault under various sections of the IPC, before he contested the poll and won it last year. 8216;8216;When I contested the polls, I was not aware of the warrant of arrest,8217;8217; he now claims.

Against this backdrop, while the UPA MLAs left for New Delhi to meet President A P J Abul Kalam to press for the disqualification of the ruling coalition MLAs, NDA MLAs led by Munda went to Ajmer Sharief today to offer prayers at the tomb of Hazrat Salim Chishti.

8220;Just before the formation of the government last year, we had offered prayers at the tomb. That time, we had all resolved to come back again if our wish to retain power was fulfilled. So we are going there to pay our gratitude,8217;8217; said BJP MLA C P Singh, who is the chief whip in the state Assembly.