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20 Madhya Pradesh ministers resign: ‘Have faith in Kamal Nath govt, cabinet should be formed afresh’

The development follows a day of high drama, where Congress MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia switched off their phones and went incommunicado.

Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, congress, madhya pradesh government, madhya pradesh congress government trouble, indian express In better days: Jyotiraditya Scindia has been sulking for long because he was neither made the state Congress unit chief nor assured of a Rajya Sabha berth.

The Congress-led government in Madhya Pradesh stared at a new and serious crisis on Monday, as party legislators and ministers loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia went incommunicado.

Scindia has been sulking for a long time because he was neither made the state Congress unit chief — a post still held by Chief Minister Kamal Nath — nor assured of a Rajya Sabha berth.

On Monday, 17 legislators, including six ministers in the Kamal Nath government, kept their phones switched off. Five ministers are believed to be in Bengaluru.

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Late on Monday night, CM Nath held a cabinet meeting at his residence. About twenty ministers attended the meeting and handed over their resignation to the CM, expressing faith in his leadership and asking him to reconstitute the cabinet.

The Kamal Nath ministry had 29 Cabinet ministers, including himself. PWD Minister Sajjan Singh Verma told reporters after the meeting that the Congress government will complete its five-year term.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, while leaving the CM residence after midnight, said: “Voters will give a (befitting) reply to those who disobey the mandate.’ The real Congressi will remain with the Congress.” When asked why the party was not able to contact Scindia, Singh said he had been told the leader was suffering from swine flu.

Festive offer

In a late-night statement, CM Nath accused the BJP of trying to destabilise the Congress government. He alleged the BJP was “hand in glove with the mafia” against whom he ran a campaign.

The Congress legislative party will meet at 5 pm on Tuesday.

A couple of days ago, labour minister Mahendra Sisodiya had warned that there could be trouble for the Congress government if Scindia was ignored or given the short shrift.

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Speculation is rife that Scindia, who lost the general election in May 2019, could meet the BJP high command in Delhi — a possibility that could spell doom for the 14-month-old Congress government in the state.

Despite attempts, Scindia could not be contacted.

Meanwhile, The BJP has called a legislative party meeting on Tuesday evening. The budget session of the Assembly is scheduled to begin on March 16. The legislative party meeting is usually held a day or two before the session, but this time, the BJP has summoned its legislators to Bhopal in the midst of Holi celebrations, holding the meeting six days before the session.

The 2018 Assembly elections had thrown up a fractured mandate, leaving Congress with 114 MLAs in the 230-member assembly. BJP had 109 members, but its strength has gone down by two. The government is supported by four Independents, one SP and two BSP members.

CM Nath had met Sonia Gandhi on Monday and was scheduled to return to the MP capital only after Holi. However, he rushed back to Bhopal and was huddled in a meeting with Congress leaders at his official residence.

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The development followed a week-long drama that began with allegations that about 10 legislators, including six Congress MLAs, had been taken to Bengaluru. Eight of these MLAs have returned. Those yet to return are Raghuraj Kansana and Hardip Dang. Dang has purportedly sent in his resignation on WhatsApp, but Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati said he would proceed only when the legislator hands him over the resignation letter personally.

On Sunday, Anuppur MLA Bisahulal Singh came back to Bhopal and admitted he was unhappy at not finding a berth in the Kamal Nath ministry. “When juniors are made ministers and you are not accommodated despite being an MLA for many terms, it is natural to get angry. Nothing wrong in getting angry if your interests are not protected,” he said.

Madhya Pradesh politics has been roiling ever since the Congress last week accused BJP of horse-trading and offering between Rs 25 crore and Rs 35 crore to several of its MLAs, Independents, and two BSP and one SP legislator. The BJP has denied this charge, and claimed Congress MLAs have approached the saffron party of their own accord due to the infighting in the ruling party in the state.

First uploaded on: 09-03-2020 at 19:32 IST
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