Undeterred by the income tax raid, interrogation by its sleuths, summons by the enforcement directorate in connection with the FIR filed against him and eight others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, former chief minister Madhu Koda, who was discharged from hospital on Sunday, has put up five Independent candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Jharkhand.
Among them figures Geeta Biruli, wife of the former chief minister, who will contest from Jagannathpur, a (Scheduled Tribe) seat vacated by Koda after he won the West Singhbhum Lok Sabha (ST) seat in the recently held Lok Sabha polls. ?We will win hands down?, said Biruli, a novice in politics.
The other candidates are Pappu Boipai from Chaibasa, Raju Sandil from Manoharpur, Avinash Purti alias Manki from Chakradharpur and Subhash Pat Pinguwa from Majhgaon. All are Koda loyalists.
Manish Kumar Gupta, spokesperson for Koda, told newsmen on Monday that the campaign of these candidates will be monitored by Vinod Kumar Srivastava, who was Koda?s campaign manager during the Lok Sabha polls. ?To assist Srivastava, a campaign committee has been constituted?, said Gupta.
While the ED served a fresh summons asking Koda to appear before its office in New Delhi on November 15 instead of November 13, Devendra Mukhiya, one of the six persons who were served with notices by the IT department on November 2, calling upon them to appear before it by November 6, turned up today before the IT?s Additional Director (Investigation) Ajit Srivastava.
Mukhiya is only the second person to have honoured the IT?s notice. The rest are yet to respond. ?We are exploring ways to bring them to justice?, says Srivastava.
