Madhya Pradesh Poiltical Crisis: Kamal Nath dares BJP to move no-confidence motion against his government
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday yet again dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to move a no-confidence motion against his government if it believes that it has numbers in the state assembly.
Talking to India Today, Kamal Nath stated, "Why should I prove my majority? Mine is a working government. In past 15 months, we have proved our majority on three occasion. If anyone is standing on the road and claiming that we don't have majority, let them move a no-confidence motion. Why are they not doing it?"
The state of Madhya Peadesh is currently undergoing a political crisis after 22 MLAs of the Congress flew in to Bengaluru earlier this month an have stayed there since then. The 22 rebel MLAs in a press conference have stated that they are not happy with the Kamal Nath government and are in Bengalure at their own will. The Congress has accused the BJP of keeping its MLAs captive.
All these MLAs are loyal to former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has recently joined the BJP and was fielded as Rajya Sabha candidate by the party.
When asked if he is worried about the fate of his government, "It is absolutely wrong to say that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is in trouble,” Kamal Nath said.
He claimed that 22 Congress MLAs are being ‘held hostage’ by the BJP and that the BJP forced them to submit resignation letters.
"There are 200 police personnel in Bengaluru who are surrounding our MLAs. If these MLAs are indeed resigning on their own, what are they doing in Bengaluru? Why are they not resigning in Bhopal in front of the media? Why are they not meeting the Speaker to handover their resignation?" Kamal Nath asked.
The Madhya Pradesh CM also questioned the manner in which the resignations of these MLAs were submitted to the Speaker by BJP leader. "Why did BJP leaders submit resignation letters of Congress MLAs? Does this not indicate that our MLAs are under pressure?"
Talking about the 22 Congress MLAs, he stated that they have never said they have left the Congress, and the party has also not expelled them.
In the meantime, the 22 rebel MLAs from Madhya Pradesh stated that they have come to Bengalure at their own will and do not want to meet anyone, even as Congress leader Digvijay Singh tried to reach out to them.
High drama developed on Wednesday near the resort the MLAs are staying in, as Digvijay Singh, staged a protest accusing the police of not letting him to meet the legislators, following which he was detained briefly and released.
Digvijay Singh, along with Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, is consulting police top brass seeking to meet the MLAs.
He also went on to hit out at Amit Shah and Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa, blaming them of trying to block their efforts to meet the legislators.
"We have come here voluntarily on our own wish; we have got to know from some people that a few leaders from Madhya Pradesh including Digvijaya Singh and some MLAs have come here. We don't want to talk to anybody," Congress rebel MLA from Sumawali Adal Singh Kansana said in a video message.
"We have tried enough to speak with every one for the last one year, when they did not hear us for one year, what they will hear us in one day? We want to say only this that we have come here as per our wish and go back as per our wish," he added.
In a massive misfortune for the Congress party, its important youth leader Jyotiradtya Scindia resigned from the party and in a coordinated rebellion last week 22 legislators loyal to him resigned in Madhya Pradesh, placing the Kamal Nath Government to the brink of collapse.
