Unholy Holi for Congress in MP: Power games set to begin in Bhopal
Having secured the resignation of 14 Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs who are holed up in BJP-ruled Karnataka, rebel leader Jyotiraditya Scindia is all to appear at the BJP headquarters this evening, according to senior BJP leaders.
Having secured the resignation of 14 Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs who are holed up in BJP-ruled Karnataka, rebel leader Jyotiraditya Scindia is all to appear at the BJP headquarters this evening, according to senior BJP leaders.
Having met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in the morning, Scindia has already made public a resignation letter sent to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday (March 9).
This sets the stage for power games in Bhopal where the Congress MLAs of Madhya Pradesh are scheduled to meet and take stock of the situation with Chief Minister Kamal Nath. If the resignation of 14 MLAs is expected, Congress’ strength in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will come down to 100 while the BJP’s strength will stand at 107.
While two BSP MLAs and lone SP MLA in Madhya Pradesh assembly are expected to stick to the Congress, the stand of four independent MLAs in the state Assembly is not clear.
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In any case, there are huge doubts about the ability of Kamal Nath to prove his majority. Even if one independent MLA switches to the BJP, the Congress would be reduced to a minority.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders claim the number of resignations is higher at 19 and not 14 as mentioned by sources in Karnataka. Details about the situation are not clear since the resignation letters have been sent to Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon and not Madhya Pradesh Speaker N P Prajapati.
If the number is 19, Kamal Nath might stand a chance to fight it out on the floor of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. However, the end-game will be quicker if the number is indeed 19.
In any case, Kamal Nath’s exit seems to be the crisis that the Congress can only postpone even in the best case scenario even though the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister is known as a master strategist who has been outdoing the BJP till now. However, BJP’s dreams of coming to power immediately may depend on the number of MLAs resigning and the acceptance of these resignations.