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Kamal Nath-led Congress govt in MP stares at collapse as 22 MLAs resign
Chief Minister Kamal Nath has recommended the sacking of six ministers from his cabinet following their resignation.
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh led by Kamal Nath stared at a collapse on Tuesday as 22 MLAs of the party submitted their resignations to the assembly Speaker, dealing a blow to the wafer-thin majority of the ruling combine in the state.
If the resignations are accepted, the effective strength of the MP assembly will come down to 206, leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a slender majority beyond the halfway mark of 103 with its 107 MLAs.
The current effective strength of the MP assembly is 228, with two seats lying vacant. While the Congress has 114 MLAs, there are 107 legislators of the BJP. The seven others are two MLAs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one from the Samajwadi Party (SP), and four independents. These seven support the Nath government, giving it a narrow majority of six.
Tuesday’s developments came shortly after Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the party. He earlier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of Union home minister and former BJP president Amit Shah.
A Congress leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 22 MLAs emailed there resignation letters to state assembly speaker N P Prajapati.
“I will look into the resignation letters as per the rules,” the Speaker said.
One of the resignation letters seen by Hindustan Times read: “I hereby resign from my position in the state assembly with effect from March 10, 2020.” All 22 letters appeared to be drafted in a similar fashion.
The state assembly’s principal secretary AP Singh said: “Since the state assembly office is closed today due to Holi we will look into the resignation letters only on Wednesday.”
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An official from the MP Raj Bhavan said on condition of anonymity earlier that the resignations of 19 Congress MLAs were also addressed to Governor Lalji Tandon. It wasn’t immediately clear if the three other resignation letters had also been received by the Raj Bhavan.
Seventeen of these MLAs include the six ministers who went incommunicado on Monday. They were said to have been flown to Bengaluru. Two other Congress MLAs were already in Bengaluru, according to people aware of the developments.
News agency ANI released a photo of 19 MLAs holding up their resignation letters on Tuesday afternoon.
A delegation of BJP leaders led by the Leader Opposition, Gopal Bhargava, met the Speaker at his official residence in Bhopal on Tuesday evening.
Reacting to the developments, the state Congress president’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “The entire country is seeing how the BJP is involved in anti-democratic activities blatantly. They are trying to hijack mandate with the help of muscle and money power.”
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan denied allegations of trying to destabilise the government and added that the developments were “an internal matter of the Congress.”
In a letter to the governor earlier in the day, chief minister Kamal Nath recommended sacking from his cabinet six ministers who resigned as MLAs. The Raj Bhavan official said the governor was in his hometown, Lucknow, and was yet to take a decision on the chief minister’s letter.
The ministers who turned in their resignation letters include Tulsi Silavat, Pradyumn Singh Tomar, Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Govind Singh Rajput, Imarti Devi and Prabhuram Chauhdary.
Reacting to Tuesday’s developments, former principal secretary, state assembly, Bhagwandev Israni said: “The MLAs must have sent the resignation letters to the Governor to suggest to him that the Congress government has been reduced to a minority now. However, as far as resignation of an MLA from the state assembly is concerned, it’s not the governor but the Speaker of the state assembly who is authorised to accept or reject the resignation letter of an MLA. The Governor can decide on the resignation of a minister from the state cabinet, not the assembly.”
Israni added, “The speaker can’t take a decision on a resignation letter which has not been submitted to him personally. In the absence of a formality required for submitting the resignation letters, an MLA will continue to enjoy his status of MLA.”
“Hence, technically, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh continues to enjoy majority till these resignation letters are not submitted formally and accepted by the Speaker,” he said.
Veteran Congress leader and MLA Bisahulal Singh also announced he was resigning from the Congress. He made the announcement in presence of BJP national vice-president Chouhan in Bhopal. Singh added that he had decided to join the BJP. The development came just days after Bisahulal Singh expressed faith in the leadership of chief minister Kamal Nath.
The 17 MLAs going incommunicado on Monday came exactly a week after 10 MLAs, including six from the Congress, left for Delhi. The Congress alleged that it was the result of poaching attempts by the BJP. Drama followed at a Gurugram resort and four of the 10 MLAs were later flown to Bengaluru. The remaining MLAs returned after two days. Of the four in Bengaluru, two returned to Bhopal later.
