Patna, March 17 Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar Ram alleged on Tuesday that the party's MLAs, who failed to appear in the Rajya Sabha polls a day ago, had "acted under pressure from the NDA", which went on to win all five seats in the state.
However, at least two of the three absent MLAs refuted the charge and claimed that Ram had advised them to "act according to their conscience", and therefore they refrained from voting for the RJD candidate, who was not to their liking.
Ram, who staged a demonstration in front of the historical Sadaqat Ashram, the headquarters of the BPCC, told reporters, "We are protesting against the NDA, which resorts to vote-buying in direct elections and has resorted to 'vidhayak chori' (vote-buying) in the Rajya Sabha polls. Our three MLAs must have been under pressure from the NDA. I am told they were being held captive at the behest of the ruling coalition".
The Congress has a total of six MLAs in the 243-member assembly, including Manoj Biswas, Surendra Kushwaha, and Manohar Prasad, who were absent during the biennial Rajya Sabha polls.
Besides, RJD MLA Faisal Rehman, who is in Delhi due to medical reasons, also failed to support his own party's candidate, Amarendra Dhari Singh.
Interestingly, Biswas, who represents Forbesganj, and Kushwaha, the MLA from Valmiki Nagar, appeared before the media and said they were never commanded by the state Congress leadership to vote for Singh.
"Rajesh Ram may say anything now, but before the elections, he simply told me that I should act according to my conscience. Due to ideological reasons, I could never have voted for the NDA. So, I remained absent," said Biswas.
He further added, "I would have considered voting for the RJD candidate had they fielded Hina Shahab, whose name had initially been circulating. I come from a constituency where one cannot vote without taking the Muslim community along. As to why they fielded Singh, that is anyone's guess."
Notably, while Singh, who failed to secure a second consecutive term in the Rajya Sabha, is a businessman from the Bhumihar caste, known to be hostile towards the RJD, Shahab is the widow of former MP Mohd Shahabuddin and the mother of Osama, the MLA from Raghunathpur.
Kushwaha said, "My loyalties are not for sale, and I am not someone who can be intimidated. So, all this talk about the NDA's money and muscle power influencing my decision is nonsense. Even AICC in-charge of Bihar, Krishna Allavaru, had told me to act according to my conscience. And I did so."
Kushwaha admitted to having received "a WhatsApp message from Rajesh Ram, just ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, requesting that I vote for the RJD candidate."
"The fact that he did not bother to call me up is proof that he was not serious about the suggestion. Moreover, I would have not hesitated to vote for the RJD had they made a proper decision. At one point, we heard that RJD national working president Tejashwi Yadav himself was interested in a Rajya Sabha seat."
When Ram was told about the party MLAs' averment, he said, "I have not spoken to them since the Rajya Sabha polls. I intend to question them on why they acted in a manner that only benefited the BJP and its allies like Nitish Kumar."
Kumar, the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state, who heads the JD(U), was among the winning NDA candidates.