Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Friday met Governor Lalji Tandon at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal, and submitted a letter alleging horsetrading of MLAs by BJP and requested him to ensure 'release of MLAs held in captivity in Bengaluru'.

"Floor test will happen on Governor's address & budget but it is only possible when 22 MLAs are freed from captivity," Kamal Nath told the media after meeting the governor.

"On March 8 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party arranged three chartered aircraft to whisk away 19 MLAs of the Congress party to Bengaluru. Since, then 19 MLAs, of whom six MLAs are cabinet ministers, are incommunicado in a resort arranged by BJP. Nobody is allowed to access and/or any sort of communication with the 19 captive MLA's." the letter stated.

It further alleged that on March 10, BJP leaders reached the Speaker's residence to hand over the resignation letter of the rebel MLAs.

"None of the 19 MLAs were present to tender resignation at the speaker's residence," the letter alleged.

Citing the incidents mentioned above, the letter accused the BJP of complicity in the conspiracy to topple the state government.

 Meanwhile, Lalji Tandon had issued notices to all the rebel MLAs to appear before him on Friday, asking them to clarify if they quit the party voluntarily or were pressurised to do so.

Amidst high political drama in Madhya Pradesh kickstarted by the resignation of former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, following which 22 MLAs including six ministers followed suit, has put Congress-led government in the state in crisis mode. More than a dozen of these MLA's are holed up at a resort in Bengaluru with police protection.

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, thus forcing the collapse of Kamal Nath-led government in the state. 

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.

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.