Amid reports of a midnight shift of several Madhya Pradesh MLAs to a hotel in Gurugram, leading to speculation that Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s government was in danger of toppling, State BJP chief Vishnu Dutt Sharma said that it was an internal issue of the Congress.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Sharma, Lok Sabha MP from Khajhuraho, said that his party was only “watching” the developments, and not behind these moves. “It is the Congress’ own internal politics that has led to this situation. Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh are playing their own games over the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. It is convenient to blame the BJP,” he said.

“If you look at comments on record by Congress leaders in the State in the last few months, including Sajjan Singh Verma who said a ‘kitchen cabinet’ was running the government, or Ajay Singh who said nobody was listening to party leaders or even Scindia himself who has threatened to hit the streets against Kamal Nath’s government, it’s all clear,” he said. “Their own party leaders are blackmailing the Kamal Nath government over Rajya Sabha berths,” he added.

Responding to reports that some MLAs may have been moved to BJP-ruled Karnataka, he reiterated that the party knew nothing about it. “It’s a free country, people can go where they want, we are not moving anyone,” he said. As for independents and MLAs of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, crucial for the support of the Congress-led government, meeting BJP leaders, he said, “if someone wants to have tea at our place, should we say no?”

At least eight MLAs from Madhya Pradesh were reported to be in a hotel in Gurugram and four of them were reportedly “persuaded” by MP Ministers Jitu Patwari and Jaivardhan Singh (former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh’s son) to return to Bhopal.