Cross-voting row: Jharkhand Congress to summon MLAs next week

RANCHI: The Jharkhand unit of the Congress party on Friday said it would summon all its MLAs here next week and talk to them one-on-one to find out who defied the party line and cross-vote for NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu in the July 18 election.
Talking to TOI, state Congress unit president Rajesh Thakur said, "I have spoken to Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam and directed him to have a word with our MLAs. Today, none of our lawmakers are in Ranchi as they were busy leading statewide protests against the ED. They will be asked to come here and we will have one-on-one discussions with them."
Later in the evening, Thakur and Alam met chief minister Hemant Soren at the latter's home on Kanke Road and held closed-door discussions. When prodded, Alam said it was a courtesy call where affairs of the state were discussed.
The Congress party's Jharkhand unit was left red-faced on Thursday night after BJP's Godda MP Nishikant Dubey tweeted that at least seven of their lawmakers had cross-voted in favour of Murmu after defying the party line, which mandated them to vote for the opposition's consensus candidate Yashwant Sinha.
The Jharkhand Congress leadership on Friday said the AICC's state in charge, Avinash Pande, was already apprised of the development. Pande is likely to visit Ranchi on July 28 for a detailed chat with the MLAs, sources said.