Governor Lalji Tandon asked Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek trust vote on Monday, in a late-night move on Saturday, days after 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress pushing into a crisis after senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia revolted and joined the BJP.
Congress MLAs arrive at Bhopal airport from Jaipur amid tight security ahead of floor test, on March 15, 2020. A total of 94 Congress MLAs along with four independents arrived at Bhopal airport on Sunday amid high expectancy and were driven straight to a hotel in four luxury coaches. The Kamal Nath government will have to go through the floor test on Monday. (Photo: IANS)
Amid the Madhya Pradesh political crisis, with the floor test to be held on Monday, the Congress MLAs, who had been camping in Jaipur, returned to Bhopal on Sunday.
News agency PTI quoted a Congress MLA confirming that the party legislators have returned to the state capital from Rajasthan.
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Governor Lalji Tandon asked Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek trust vote on Monday, in a late-night move on Saturday, days after 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress pushing into a crisis after senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia revolted and joined the BJP.
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Tandon asked Assembly Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati to hold a floor test on March 16. In his order he said, “The Madhya Pradesh Assembly’s session will commence at 16 March, 2020, at 11 am, and after my address to the assembly, the first work to be conducted will be voting on trust vote.”
The Congress expressed confidence that it will prove its majority in the House, while the opposition BJP claimed that the ruling dispensation has been reduced to minority as 22 of its MLAs have resigned.
“We are confident of proving our majority,” state Public Relations Minister P C Sharma said.
He said although the governor has asked the Congress government to seek a trust vote after his (governor’s) address in the Assembly on Monday, the Speaker was empowered to decide the proceedings of the House and he would take a call on it.
However, BJP chief whip in the Assembly, Narottam Mishra, said, “The Congress has lost its majority. The governor is saying that was in a minority. I am not saying this…it has been mentioned it the governor’s letter sent to chief minister.”
Mishra too on Sunday issued a whip to all BJP MLAs to remain present in the House during the Assembly session that begins on Monday, and vote in favour of party during the trust vote.
BJP MLAs are currently staying at a resort in Gurugram (Haryana).
Earlier, Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati on Saturday accepted the resignations of six Congress MLAs Tulsi Silawat, Govind Singh Rajput, Prabhuram Choudhry, Imarti Devi, Pradyumn Singh Tomar and Mahendra Singh Sisodia.
With the resignations accepted of the 6 Congress MLAs, now the 230 member assembly’s strength has gone down to 222 and the Congress has 108 MLAs and with the support of its allies it will have 7 more MLAs’ support. If the speaker accepts the resignation of the rest of the rebel MLAs Congress will be in minority and BJP with its 107 legislators will be the single largest party.
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