MP BJP legislature party meet in Bhopal; Shivraj Chouhan front-runner

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Madhya Pradesh BJP’s legislature party meeting will be
held on Monday (March 23) evening to elect its leader who will head the new government in the state.

The meeting will be held at the state party office here.

Three-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is expected to be elected the BJP’s legislature party leader, which will enable him to take up the coveted job for a record fourth time, party sources said.

Two central BJP observers will attend the meet through video-conferencing from Delhi.

Due to the coronavirus scare, the two central observers will take part in the meeting through video-conferencing. Even MLAs would be provided with masks and sanitisers at the meeting, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma told PTI.

“In the BJP legislature party meeting, its leader will be elected. Almost all MLAs are taking part in it. Only those legislators who are stationed at far-off places like Rewa, Singrauli, Sidhi and Gwalior may not be able to take part in it. However, they have been informed about the meeting,” Sharma said.

Related news: 22 Scindia-loyalist MLAs join BJP in Madhya Pradesh

BJP president JP Nadda has instructed to ensure no crowding takes place during the meeting, he said.

“Therefore, only MLAs will be allowed to enter the premises without their assistants or security guards. Masks and hand sanitisers have been arranged for them, he said.

Asked whether oath-taking ceremony will take place soon after the legislature party meeting, Sharma replied in the affirmative.

After Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati accepted the resignation of 16 rebel Congress legislators on Thursday night, the government led by Chief Minister Kamal Nath was
reduced to a minority with 92 MLAs in the 230-member house following which he resigned.

With this, the strength of the house also got reduced to 222, trimming down the majority mark to 104. In this current situation, the BJP has a majority in the house with
107 MLAs.

The BSP has two MLAs, the SP one while there are four independents. All these MLAs had extended support to the Congress during the formation of government in December 2018.

Related news: Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon accepts Kamal Nath’s resignation

In the changed scenario, the MLAs are likely to side with the BJP, sources in the saffron party said.

Already, one of the independent MLAs, Pradeep Jaiswal, a minister in the Nath government, has announced his support to the BJP.