'Bogus news': Congress says its Bihar MLAs not deserting party

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday asserted that none of its six MLAs in Bihar, elected in last November’s state assembly polls, would desert the party, calling reports to the contrary "bogus news.

""There were rumours that all our MLAs are deserting the party. But all of them were present at today's meeting. These are all bogus news. Such rumours being spread against the Congress are completely baseless," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal told reporters after a brainstorming session with Bihar leaders at the residence of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi.Kharge had convened the meeting at his residence, where the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was also present.The Congress had won six seats in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, where it contested 61 seats as part of the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance. The RJD, the largest constituent, contested 143 seats but won only 25. The ruling NDA, led by the BJP and JD(U), registered a landslide victory.Speculation that the legislators might quit the Congress arose when they skipped a feast organised by the party ahead of the Makar Sankranti festival.The MLAs are: Surendra Prasad (Valmiki Nagar), Abhishek Ranjan (Chanpatia), Manoj Bishwas (Forbesganj), Abidur Rahman (Araria), Qamrul Hoda (Kishanganj), and Manohar Prasad Singh (Manihari).(With PTI inputs)