Will prove majority, had talked about BJP plot with Scindia, says Kamal Nath

The beleaguered Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who has been meeting a stream of visitors at his residence ever since the dramatic exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia Tuesday, appears to be sanguine about averting the fall of his 15-month-old government.

"I am confident that the Congress will win the floor test in the Assembly after it convenes as scheduled on March 15. You will see that we will be able to prove our majority in the Assembly," he told The Indian Express on Wednesday morning on the telephone from Bhopal.

Asked what was his confidence based on and whether he was in touch with some of the 22 MLAs who had submitted their resignations on Holi, he replied: "Yes, we are in touch with them. Everyone is talking to everyone is all I can say at this stage. The point that the media is missing is that if the Congress MLAs had given their resignations of their own free will, why are they not in Bhopal? Why have they not been allowed to come to Bhopal and submit their resignations in person? They should be here if they have not been held captive."

He said that, ironically, he had been in "constant touch" with Jyotiraditya Scindia in the weeks preceding his resignation and that efforts being made by the BJP to poach Congress legislators were also being freely discussed between them.

"I had met Jyotiraditya in Delhi about 10 days ago and we also talked about the constant attempts of the ruling party to topple the Government in Bhopal. I had been briefing him about this. Until this Saturday (March 7) I was speaking to him on the telephone and then I learnt that he had a high fever and he simply went off line.''

(Inputs and image from theindianexpress.com)