The Congress is moving its legislators in Madhya Pradesh to Jaipur to prevent their possible poaching by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which earlier on Wednesday moved its own lawmakers to Gurugram amid a tug-of-war over power.
Shortly before noon, Congress MLAs left for the airport from the chief minister’s house to fly to Jaipur. A party leader claimed there are 94 Congress MLAs in the group.
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is staring at a collapse following the resignation by almost two dozen lawmakers including six ministers on Tuesday shortly after Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress. The ruling party accuses the BJP of luring away its lawmakers. The BJP says the Congress government in MP is unraveling because of factional fighting.
Despite the resignation of 22 of its MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, the state’s home minister Bala Bachchan exuded confidence that the government will prove its majority in a floor test.
“Congress is in a safe and strong position. Everybody is in touch with Chief Minister, everything will be alright soon. We will prove majority on the floor of the assembly and our government will continue till 2023,” Bachchan said Wednesday, according to ANI.
Nineteen of the Congress MLAs who had flown to Bengaluru, resigned simultaneously on Tuesday. The emailed their resignation letters to state assembly speaker N P Prajapati and also faxed them to Governor Lalji Tandon.
Three other MLAs resigned separately later Tuesday.
The 230-member MP assembly currently has 228 members. The Congress has 114 MLAs while the BJP has 107 legislators. Two MLAs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one from the Samajwadi Party (SP), and four independents make up seven other lawmakers who support the Kamal Nath government.
