Two BJP MPs, Seth to testify on April 20

Speaker Dinesh Oraon hearing the anti-defection case of six former JVM legislators switching to the BJP soon after the Assembly elections in 2015 for over three years has asked Janaki Prasad Yadav  to produce his witnesses to testify on the next date on April 20.

The list of witnesses includes former Jharkhand BJP president and incumbent Lok Sabha MP from the party Ravindra Kumar Rai, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP from the State Mahesh Poddar along with Sanjay Seth, who is holding chairperson post of Jharkhand State Khadi Board.

“The Speaker while listening to the matter on Friday has directed to call last six witnesses on the next date. The list of witnesses produced by Janaki Prasad Yadav carries names of Ravindra Kumar Rai, Mahesh Poddar, Sanjay Seth, Chandra Shekhar Aggarwal and two others,” said an Assembly official present during the cross examination of two witnesses presented by Yadav on Friday and pleaded to produce the remaining on April 20.

The senior leaders were said to have played a crucial role in the said merger of the JVM into the BJP when six out of total eight MLAs had overnight decided to turn saffron post polls.

The MLAs namely—Janki Prasad Yadav, Amar Kumar Bauri, Alok Chaurasia, Navin Jaiswal, Randhir Singh and Ganesh Kumar Ganjhu— were taken to Delhi and in the presence of Ravindra Rai and others got inducted into the BJP.

“This is a very crucial juncture for the case. We wanted to cross examine real men behind the game. Till now petty names were called as witnesses just to buy time. I have also urged the Speaker to ensure at least one from the MLAs in question to be present in the witness box on the next date along with them,” said RN Sahay, the lawyer representing the JVM before the tribunal.     

Since Speaker Dinesh Oraon has gone for a regular hearing fixed for every Friday and cutting down unending list of witnesses named by the defense side, it is expected that all the MLAs would be brought to defend themselves within next three or four dates, i.e. before May 15.

As per the ruling given later on by the Speaker, each of the six MLAs crossing over to the BJP after winning their Assembly elections on JVM’s ticket in 2015, were given just one day each to bring all witnesses before the tribunal.

The JVM in its repeated appeals before the Tribunal has been pressing hard to conclude the case sooner since the matter was languishing before the Speaker for a fairly long time.

The party has also decided to go harder and indicated to approach the High Court if the tardy pace continues.