Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon wrote to Chief Minister Kamal Nath and assembly speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati late Saturday night and sought a floor test Monday.
The floor test will help determine whether the Kamal Nath administration, hit by resignations of 22 MLAs, still has a majority in the house.
The letter came after a delegation of BJP leaders, led by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, met the governor and demanded an immediate floor test, terming the Kamal Nath administration a minority government.
The governor subsequently wrote to Nath, with a copy of the letter marked to Prajapati, Saturday midnight, saying the trust vote should be held soon after the Governor’s address on 16 March.
Congress sources said the party was planning to move the Supreme Court over the matter. However, there was no official confirmation until the time of publishing this report. The sources claimed the final decision on a floor test could only be taken by the speaker, not the governor.
Also read: Why Shivraj Chouhan calling Jyotiraditya Scindia ‘Vibhishan’ might not be a compliment
Voting to be videographed
In his letter, the governor said voting will only be held by division of votes. The proceedings, he added, would be videographed.
The governor has asked Nath to prove his government’s majority, stating that it prima facie appeared to have lost the trust of the assembly.
The governor also cited the BJP’s claim that the Nath government was putting pressure on the MLAs who have resigned.
Terming it a grave situation, Tandon said the assembly session would be held at 11 am and not postponed, delayed or suspended under any circumstances.
Political drama continues
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has a slim majority, and was established with the help of three BSP and SP legislators and four independents.
The MP assembly has 230 seats but two are vacant following the death of the incumbents.
Before the current political crisis in the state, the Congress had 114 MLAs with the BJP tally standing at 107.
Then, as senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, a former Guna MP, quit the party to join the BJP, 22 MLAs of the Congress resigned too. Six of them were ministers in the Kamal Nath government.
Drama unfolded Saturday as, soon after the BJP delegation met the governor, the speaker accepted the resignation of the ministers.
This has effectively reduced the strength of the House to 222 and the halfway mark to 111.
The six former ministers whose resignations have been accepted — Imarti Devi, Tulsi Silawat, Govind Singh Rajput, Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Pradyumn Singh Tomar and Prabhuram Chaudhari — are believed to be close to Scindia.
According to a senior Congress leader, the acceptance of the six ministers’ resignations means they will not be able to take part in either the trust vote or in the Rajya Sabha elections to be held this month.
Congress MLAs who were put up in Rajasthan and BJP MLAs lodged in a resort near Manesar are now on their way to Bhopal, sources said.
The Congress Saturday issued a whip to all its MLAs, asking them to be present in the house from 16 March to 13 April during the assembly session and vote in favour of the government.
Nath also wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah earlier this week, urging him to ensure the “release” of 22 Congress MLAs held “captive” in Bengaluru.
Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat, who is accompanying Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs to Bhopal from Jaipur, told ANI that “we are ready for the floor test tomorrow and we are confident of winning it”. “We are not nervous, the BJP is. Those (rebel) MLAs are in touch with us,” he added.
All 22 rebel MLAs released video statements Sunday saying they had quit the Congress of their own accord.
Also read: Rebel Congress MLAs look at ‘health certificates’ to face MP govt’s coronavirus threat
Sooner the better. The Governor’s principled stand should also be followed when a CM from the ruling party is facing a similar predicament.