Amidst high political drama in Madhya Pradesh kickstarted by the resignation of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Congress party, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati on Thursday issued notices to the 22 Congress MLAs who followed suit, to appear before him on Friday, asking them to clarify if they quit the party voluntarily or were pressurised to do so.
Moreover, BJP in Madhya Pradesh called for a floor test in on March 16 in wake of the mass resignation of the Congress MLAs, putting the 15-month-old Kamal Nath-led government in crisis mode.
"Since the government is in minority, we are going to request the governor and the Assembly Speaker for a floor test on March 16 when the state budget session begins," BJP's chief whip in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Narottam Mishra said.
"This government has lost the majority," Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said.
With the resignation of the 22 Congress MLAs which is still to be accepted by the speaker of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, the strength of the assembly will reduce to 206, with the Congress having 92 seats, and the BJP having 107 seats, the saffron party easily surpassing the magic number of 104 for a majority.
It must be noted that Madhya Pradesh has a 228 member assembly.
Before the rebellion, the Congress Party's tally was 114, who formed the government in Madhya Pradesh with the support of four Independents, two BSP MLAs and one from the SP.
Meanwhile, two Congress leaders Jitu Patwari Patwari and Lakhan Singh went to Bengaluru on Thursday to meet the rebel Congress MLAs holed up in Embassy Boulevard where they were allegedly stopped and manhandled by police personnel.
Following the scuffle, Patwari and Singh were taken into preventive custody by the Bengaluru Police.
'Patwari and Singh had gone to Bengaluru where they were assaulted. We have info that our ministers have been arrested. If the police don't take action and release our ministers and MLAs, we will have to take it to the court,'' the Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders said in a press conference.
The two leaders were later released by the police.
Jyotiraditya Scindia was on Wednesday named as one of the Rajya Sabha candidates for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh, moments after the rebel Congress leader ended his 18-year-long association with the grand old party and was formally inducted into the saffron camp.
It was rumoured that Scindia was never going to be the first preference for the Congress in the elections to the Rajya Sabha seats. This, coupled with the fact that Congress central leadership chose veteran leader Kamal Nath over Scindia as Chief Minister of the state fueled rumours that there was a rift within Madhya Pradesh Congress. There were reports of alleged infighting and rumours that Scindia was feeling "ignored" within the grand old party.
Finally, the straw broke and Scindia switched sides over to the saffron camp on Wednesday.
After joining the BJP, Scindia also said that Congress is not serving the people of Madhya Pradesh. "I can say with confidence that the aim of public service is not being fulfilled by that party (Congress). Besides this, the present condition of the party indicates that it is not what it used to be," said the leader.