'Congress MP offered me Rs.25 lakh bribe'

Ranchi, April 23 (IANS) Amid the CBI investigating the March 30 countermanded Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand, a Congress legislator alleged Monday that his own party's upper house MP Dheeraj Sahu had offered him Rs.25 lakh in 2010 to vote in his favour, a charge that has been denied.

"I was offered Rs.25 lakh by Dheeraj Sahu in the 2010 Rajya Sabha poll," Chandrashekhar Dubey, who represents Bishrampur assembly constituency, said while talking to news channels here.

Sahu immediately denied the charge.

"I was the party's candidate. Why should I give money to my own party MLAs for voting in my favour," he asked while speaking to news channels.

In 2010, Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidates Dheeraj Sahu and K.D. Singh had won the biennial Rajya Sabha polls.

The Election Commission (EC) had countermanded the March 30 Rajya Sabha polls in the state in view of allegations of horse trading. The poll was countermanded after Rs.2.15 crore in cash was seized from a car belonging to a candidate's brother. The seized cash, a CBI official said, was probably meant to buy votes of legislators.

The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) has searched houses of three legislators - K.N. Tripathi (Congress), Suresh Paswan (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and Vishnu Bhaiyya of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) following the horse trading charges.

The CBI has registered an FIR after the Jharkhand High Court, hearing a petition related to the case, asked the EC to get the horse-trading charges probed by the central agency.

The EC will hold a fresh poll May 3 for the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda had recommended a CBI probe for both the 2010 and 2012 Rajya Sabha polls.