Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], June 19 (ANI): CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Friday wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, strongly protesting what he termed as "wholly unfounded and malicious" allegations against his party's MLAs amid allegations of cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections held in Jharkhand recently.
In the letter, Bhattacharya rejected claims that CPI(ML) Liberation legislators were responsible for the defeat of Congress candidate Pranav Jha in the Rajya Sabha elections. He asserted that both party MLAs had voted for the Congress candidate as decided earlier.
"We are shocked to see that the Congress is blaming our MLAs in Jharkhand for the defeat of Congress nominee Pranav Jha in the Rajya Sabha election from Jharkhand on June 18. This is a malicious lie. Both our MLAs voted for Mr Jha as planned in the meeting of opposition MLAs. Our polling agents duly verified the votes before the ballots were cast," Bhattacharya said in the letter.
Expressing strong objection to the allegations, the CPI(ML) Liberation leader said the accusations were damaging the party's image and undermining trust among allies in the INDIA bloc.
"I write to you to express our strong protest against the wholly unfounded and malicious propaganda against our MLAs and the attempted tarnishing of our party's image. In election after election, our MLAs in Bihar and Jharkhand have voted for opposition candidates in the Rajya Sabha. As you know, our party has been one of the most committed constituents of the INDIA bloc since its formation," he wrote.
Bhattacharya urged the Congress leadership to intervene and prevent party leaders from making allegations against alliance partners without verification.
"We call upon you to ask Congress leaders to stop making unverified and unwarranted allegations against allies that undermine mutual trust among parties of the INDIA bloc," the letter stated.
He further said that due to the widespread circulation of the allegations in the media, the party had decided to make the letter public.
"Given the wide publicity the malicious lie has got in the media, we are constrained to release this letter to the public," he added.
This comes after Bhattacharya issued a clarification on social media while highlighting his party's position on the controversy.
In a post on X, Bhattacharya wrote, "As for speculations over Jharkhand Rajya Sabha voting, we can tell with full responsibility that our two MLAs voted for the Congress candidate as planned. Two of our senior leaders, PBM Haldhar Mahato and CCM Geeta Mandal, duly verified the votes cast by CPI(ML) Liberation MLAs."
The controversy comes amid political buzz over alleged cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand, which has triggered speculation within the INDIA bloc regarding coordination among its constituent parties. (ANI)
