Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachhap and Naman Bixal – these are the names that have caused turmoil in the Congress and sparked speculation of a possible 'operation lotus' in Jharkhand. These MLAs were also suspected to have cross-voted in the Bharatiya Janata Party's favour during the presidential elections in July.
While the MLA from Jamtara, Irfan Ansari, who is also suspended from the Congress, was in the limelight during an alleged attempt to bring down the government last year, another MLA, Naman Bixal, had claimed to have received an offer of Rs 1 crore to topple the government around the same time.
Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachhap, and Naman Bixal were arrested on the evening of Saturday, 30 July, by the West Bengal Police from Howrah district. The police claims to have recovered around Rs 50 lakh from them.
The Congress has taken the position that the arrest and the cash found 'exposes' a possible 'Operation Lotus' being carried out by the BJP.
A staunch anti-BJP legislator, Irfan Ansari had weeks ago criticised the BJP government for the alleged targeting of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren with the use of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). However, now he is being accused of attempting to topple the government.
Who Are Irfan Ansari, Naman Bixal, and Rajesh Kachhap?
Forty-four-year-old Irfan Ansari has been in controversy in the recent past. Last year September, he called Taliban a 'revolutionary force.' In March 2022, he accused the BJP of 'running courts' after the Karnataka High Court verdict on hijab.
Ansari won his first MLA election from Jamtara in 2014. He has had a political upbringing under his father Furkaan Ansari, who was also an MP and five time MLA in the then undivided Bihar.
Ansari, who has an MBBS degree from a Ukrainian medical college, is often seen treating patients in his constituency. However, many say he doesn't carry the weight he should because of his 'out of turn communication.'
Amidst a brewing dissatisfaction between the Congress leaders claiming to have been 'ignored' for positions in various corporations and boards in Jharkhand, experts believe that they might have thought it in their best interests to switch sides.
Naman Bixal Kongari
Naman Bixal, who was arrested and sent to a 10-day police remand, was backed heavily by Congress during his maiden victory in 2018.
The 47-year-old won his first MLA election from Kolebira seat in Jharkhand after the elected MLA Anosh Ekka was convicted in a murder case. Ekka had won both in 2009 and 2014 despite being in prison.
A Congress leader told The Indian Express that in the 2018 bypoll, the Congress pulled all its weight and put it behind Bixal, which also signalled a revival of the party in the state.
Often looked at as a simple Adivasi leader, Naman Bixal now stands suspended from the Congress party.
Rajesh Kachhap
As Congress tries to pacify the situation in the state, experts believe that this is a major cause to worry for the party. Rajesh Kachhap, the third MLA arrested by the West Bengal Police, is said to have risen from the lower ranks in the Congress to become an MLA in 2019.
The 41-year-old MLA won his first election from Khijri in Ranchi district in 2019. Rajesh, who was a member of Youth Congress at the district level, defeated his BJP counterpart by around 5,000 votes.
It has also come to fore that both Rajesh Kachhap and Irfan Ansari had gone to Guwahati on 20 July and returned the next day.
The arrests of these MLAs coincided with the complaint of Congress MLA from Jharkhand, Kumar Jaimangal, who lodged a police complaint accusing the three arrested MLAs of “offering… Rs 10 crore” to “topple the present JMM and Congress government.”
“Shri Irfan Ansari and Rajesh Kachhap want me to come to Kolkata and then take me to Guwahati where, according to (Irfan Ansari), he will make me meet Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma who will give me assurance of a definite ministerial berth apart from the money. Irfan Ansari has told me that he has already been promised health ministry in the new government," Jaimangal's complaint read.
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