Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati got a pat on his back from  unexpected quarters, as Governor Lalji Tandon sent a letter to him in the early hours of Wednesday, and praised him for taking an “impartial and courageous” decision in accepting the resignations of six ministers.

The Congress-led Kamal Nath government in the state is facing a crisis after  former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP . 22 MLAs of the ruling party also submitted their resignations, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse. Of these, the speaker has accepted resignations of six MLAs.

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“I can appreciate your concern for the security of the missing MLAs in view of their absence from the House as mentioned in your letter dated March 17, 2020. I can also guess the kind of pain you are undergoing since last 8-10 days in view of the above,” Tandon wrote, referring to a letter sent to him by the Speaker.

“Although there is no mention of efforts made by you to know about these members, I believe that you must have taken adequate efforts for it,” he said.

“As far as accepting resignation of honourable members is concerned, I can praise your impartial and courageous decision to accept the resignation of six out of 22 members very soon. As the Speaker, you must be well aware of the legal procedure to accept the resignation of any member or what action needed to be taken when the members are absent without any information despite knowing about the session,” the Governor wrote.

“However, I can also feel your dilemma in disposing of these MLAs’ resignation,” he added.

Regarding the missing MLAs, Tandon said they have been constantly writing to him and the Speaker but in none of their letters have they mentioned where they are at present. They have not mentioned any problems on their own, he added.

“Their letters and videos are also constantly getting highlighted in newspapers, electronic and social media and now they have also reached the Supreme Court,” Tandon said.

“In the last paragraph of your letter, you have demanded security for the MLAs. It is the duty of the executive to ensure the security of each and every citizen of the state and I am sure, you also wanted the same from it only, but, it appears that you have erroneously sent it to me,” the governor wrote.

Tandon also requested the Speaker to send a copy of the rules of the House regarding some questions and their answers that the latter had sought on the issue.

Meanwhile, the political drama in Madhya Pradesh continues to see new developments ahead of Supreme Court hearing on floor test. Today Cogress leader Digvijaya Singh was stopped from meeting rebel party MLAs holed up in Bengaluru and was taken into a preventative custody.