Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Friday met Governor Lalji Tandon at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal requesting a floor test in the forthcoming session as political crisis in the state continued to deepen after 22 Congress MLAs quit the party earlier this week.

The chief minister handed over a letter to the Governor in which he alleged horse-trading of MLAs by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and requested him to ensure ‘release of MLAs held in captivity in Bengaluru’.
Nineteen Congress MLAs, who are staying at a resort in Bengaluru, including the six ministers, had on Tuesday sent their resignation letters to the speaker via email and later also to the Governor. In the evening, the original copies of the letters were handed over to Assembly speaker NP Prajapati by a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Bhopal.
Prajapati on Thursday issued notices to 22 rebel Congress members asking them to appear before him by Friday and explain whether they had quit voluntarily or under pressure.
The speaker’s decision comes as both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP are preparing for a protracted legal battle over what the former has called an attempt by the latter to poach its legislators and destabilise the state government . The resignations came as senior Congress leader Scindia exited the party and joined the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}The speaker’s decision comes as both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP are preparing for a protracted legal battle over what the former has called an attempt by the latter to poach its legislators and destabilise the state government . The resignations came as senior Congress leader Scindia exited the party and joined the BJP.
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