Congress government led by Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh is at the brink of collapse following the resignation of 22 MLAs after the bigwig Jyotiraditya Scindia ditched the party to join BJP recently. Probably troubled by the thought of losing his rank, Kamal Nath met the MP Governor Lalji Tandon on Friday in Bhopal and handed over a letter in which he alleged horsetrading of MLAs by BJP, an allegation which the later has refuted.
While handing over the letter to the Governor, CM Kamal Nath requested to ensure “release of MLAs held in captivity in Bengaluru”. In the letter, Kamal Nath also requested that the floor test is done in the forthcoming session of the assembly on a date fixed by the Speaker.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s letter to Governor Lalji Tandon requesting ‘floor test in the forthcoming session of the assembly on a date fixed by the Speaker’. pic.twitter.com/xWI6rc0RI5
— ANI (@ANI) March 13, 2020
The ruling Congress in Madhya Pradesh has alleged that 19 of the rebel Congress MLAs, including 6 cabinet ministers, have been held “captive” by the BJP in a resort in Bengaluru.
“On March 8 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party arranged three chartered aircraft to whisk away 19 MLAs of the Congress party to Bengaluru. Since, then 19 MLAs, of whom six MLAs are cabinet ministers, are incommunicado in a resort arranged by BJP. Nobody is allowed to access and/or any sort of communication with the 19 captive MLA’s.” the letter stated.
It further alleged that on March 10, BJP leaders reached the Speaker’s residence to hand over the resignation letter of the rebel MLAs. “None of the 19 MLAs were present to tender resignation at the speaker’s residence,” the letter alleged.
Citing the incidents mentioned above, the letter accused the BJP of complicity in the conspiracy to topple the state government.
Meanwhile, Lalji Tandon had issued notices to all the rebel MLAs to appear before him on Friday, asking them to clarify if they quit the party voluntarily or were pressurised to do so.
The high octane political drama in Madhya Pradesh kickstarted with the resignation of former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, following which 22 MLAs including six ministers followed suit and resigned from the assembly.
The concerns of Kamal Nath is apprehensible knowing that with the resignation of the 22 Congress MLAs, which is still to be accepted by the speaker of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, the strength of the assembly will reduce to 206, with the Congress having 92 seats, and the BJP, having 107 seats. In this situation, BJP can easily cross the halfway mark of 104 for a majority, thus forcing the collapse of Kamal Nath-led government in the state.
