Madhya Pradesh: Fresh crisis for govt as Scindia loyalists switch off phones
The Congress-led government in Madhya Pradesh stared at a new and serious crisis on Monday, as party legislators and ministers loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia went incommunicado.
Scindia has been sulking for a long time because he was neither made the state Congress unit chief — a post still held by Chief Minister Kamal Nath — nor assured of a Rajya Sabha berth.
On Monday, more than a dozen legislators, including at least three ministers in the Kamal Nath government, kept their phones switched off amid rumours that they could have been taken to Bengaluru. A couple of days ago, labour minister Mahendra Sisodiya had warned that there could be trouble for the Congress government if Scindia was ignored or given the short shrift.
Despite attempts, Scindia could not be contacted.
Speculation is rife that Scindia, who lost the general election in May 2019, could meet the BJP high command in Delhi — a possibility that could spell doom for the 14-month-old Congress government in the state.
Meanwhile, The BJP has called a legislative party meeting on Tuesday evening. The budget session of the Assembly is scheduled to begin on March 16. The legislative party meeting is usually held a day or two before the session, but this time, the BJP has summoned its legislators to Bhopal in the midst of Holi celebrations, holding the meeting six days before the session.
The 2018 Assembly elections had thrown up a fractured mandate, leaving Congress with 114 MLAs in the 230-member assembly. BJP had 109 members, but its strength has gone down by two. The government is supported by four Independents, one SP and two BSP members.
CM Nath had met Sonia Gandhi on Monday and was scheduled to return to the MP capital only after Holi. However, he rushed back to Bhopal and was huddled in a meeting with Congress leaders at his official residence.
The development followed a week-long drama that began with allegations that about 10 legislators, including six Congress MLAs, had been taken to Bengaluru. Eight of these MLAs have returned. Those yet to return are Raghuraj Kansana and Hardip Dang. Dang has purportedly sent in his resignation on WhatsApp, but Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati said he would proceed only when the legislator hands him over the resignation letter personally.
On Sunday, Anuppur MLA Bisahulal Singh came back to Bhopal and admitted he was unhappy at not finding a berth in the Kamal Nath ministry. "When juniors are made ministers and you are not accommodated despite being an MLA for many terms, it is natural to get angry. Nothing wrong in getting angry if your interests are not protected," he said.
Madhya Pradesh politics has been roiling ever since the Congress last week accused BJP of horse-trading and offering between Rs 25 crore and Rs 35 crore to several of its MLAs, Independents, and two BSP and one SP legislator. The BJP has denied this charge, and claimed Congress MLAs have approached the saffron party of their own accord due to the infighting in the ruling party in the state.
Inputs from theindianexpress.com and image from asian age
