Ranchi: The 14-month-old Raghubar Das government could be facing its biggest embarrassment yet if allegations that one of its MLAs was arm-twisting a large Russian mining and machinery company in Dhanbad are found true.
As Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto, allegedly in the line of fire for having demanded money and jobs for his men from a Russian collaborator of Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL) in Dhanbad, protested innocence in the Assembly today, leader of the Opposition Hemant Soren shared with mediapersons the copies of a letter dated January 27 purportedly written by the consulate-general of Russian Federation in Calcutta to chief minister Raghubar Das accusing “Mr Dhullu Mahto” of arm-twisting.
Shenanigans surrounding Mahto’s denial were this morning’s highlight in the ongoing Assembly budget session, as the legislator tried to interrupt proceedings several times to draw Speaker Dinesh Oraon’s attention to his protestations of innocence and demand an independent probe by a central or state agency to clear his name,The Telegraph reported.
Mahto, a colliery leader who rose the ranks and finally defected from the JVM to the BJP last year, insisted on a discussion “pertaining to the dignity of Jharkhand and the entire nation”, but the Speaker did not allow it.
A worked-up Mahto met the media in the afternoon, claiming innocence and accusing a vernacular paper that has been carrying the reports for some days and some political leaders of Bihar of vendetta.
“I am innocent, there should be an independent probe. I request the state government to constitute one (probe team) so that the matter gets exposed,” he said, even as rival Hemant distributed copies of what he claimed was a two-page letter, signed by Calcutta-based Russian consul-general Irina K. Bashkirova.
The letter, whose authenticity could not be verified independently, stated a group of local people calling themselves trade union members under Mahto’s leadership was repeatedly organising strikes and preventing Russian specialists from entering Block-II and Katras coalfields areas in Dhanbad.
Stating that the St Petersburg-based company IZ-KARTEX Named After PG Korobkov Ltd had in 2013 signed an agreement with BCCL to supply and maintain four EKG-10 shovels at Block-II and Katras coalfields, an important business milestone in Indian-Russian ties, the letter mentioned: “The demand of payment of a certain amount of money in favour of Mr Dhullu Mahto and giving employment to 40 of his people were also put forward.”
In the afternoon, Speaker Oraon advised Mahto not to get carried away by media reports. Oraon also offered to seek legal opinion on the matter, if the MLA so demanded, at which Mahto expressed his satisfaction.
But, this drama promises to be long-drawn as the firebrand MLA of Mahto’s former party JVM, Pradip Yadav, later told The Telegraph he would again raise the issue in the House.