CPIML-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Friday called the allegation of cross-voting by his party in the Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand a “malicious lie”.

Bhattacharya’s rare public outburst came in an open letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a day after the party blamed the defeat of its candidate, Pranav Jha, on cross-voting by its Left and RJD allies.

Cracks in the INDIA bloc appeared in the Rajya Sabha polls just 10 days after Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s passionate call for unity despite differences during a meeting of alliance parties in New Delhi.

Bhattacharya, who has attempted to play the role of late CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury as an ideological guide to the bloc, said in his letter: “We are shocked to see that the Congress is blaming our MLAs in Jharkhand for the defeat of Congress nominee Pranav Jha in the Rajya Sabha election from Jharkhand on 18 June. This is a malicious lie. Both our MLAs voted for Mr Jha as planned in the meeting of opposition MLAs.

“In election after election our MLAs in Bihar and Jharkhand have voted for opposition candidates in Rajya Sabha…. We call upon you to ask Congress leaders to stop making unverified and unwarranted allegations against allies that undermine mutual trust among parties of the INDIA bloc.”

The INDIA bloc in Jharkhand had the exact number of MLAs to win both seats to the Rajya Sabha. Yet, the JMM and the Congress bickered over candidates — even after the BJP decided to back Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani, hoping to split INDIA parties’ MLAs. JMM MLAs demanded that the party field candidates for both vacancies after the Congress announced Jha as its nominee before the JMM declared any support for him.

The JMM agreed but ended up with two surplus votes for its candidate, Baidyanath Ram — a figure that the Congress needed to win. Nathwani got four more votes than the NDA’s strength.

Congress Jharkhand in-charge K. Raju told reporters in Ranchi on Thursday that the Congress had got 20 votes — 16 of its own and four from the JMM — implying that the Liberation and the RJD had backed Nathwani.

Raju said on X on Friday: “Shri @pranavINC, the @INCIndia candidate in #RajyaSabhaElection from #Jharkhand, secured 20 votes of which 16 votes were cast by the 16 @INCJharkhand_ MLAs. I can authenticate this because as the #CongressParty’s Agent in the #JharkhandRajyaSabhaElection I have seen every vote before they put it in the ballot box.”

During the polling on Thursday, JMM president and Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren shared a video on X of having tea with BJP MLAs in the Assembly building. Last night, Soren congratulated both winners and did not mention the Congress candidate, whom his party had officially supported.

Karnataka panel

The Karnataka BJP has formed a fact-finding panel to probe cross-voting in the MLC polls held on Thursday.

There have been six-seven cross-voters from the JDS and at least four-five from the BJP, according to the state BJP leadership. The polls were conducted to elect seven members to the 75-member Legislative Council.