New Delhi: Thirteen of the 22 rebel MLAs in Madhya Pradesh have given an assurance that ‘they are not leaving the Congress’, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said Wednesday while expressing confidence that the Kamal Nath-led government in the state will win a floor test.
“We are not keeping quiet. We are not sleeping,” Singh said, a day after Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and 22 MLAs submitted their resignations from the Assembly in Madhya Pradesh.
As uncertainty grew over the future of the Congress government in the state, pushed to the brink of collapse, Singh said nobody anticipated that Scindia, a former Union Minister and four-time Lok Sabha MP, would quit the party.
“We did not anticipate that Scindia will quit the Congress… that was a mistake,” Singh said. He added that Scindia was offered the post of Madhya Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister but he wanted his nominee. However, Kamal Nath refused to accept a ‘chela’.
The senior Congress leader also claimed that Scindia was roped in by the BJP after Shivraj Singh Chouhan failed to topple the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. He alleged that the MLAs were offered a huge amount of money.
The Congress has a wafer thin majority in the 228-member in the MP Assembly. Before the rebellion, its tally was 114. It also has the support of four Independents, two BSP MLAs and one from the SP, but some may now switch sides to the BJP.
If the resignations of the 22 MLAs are accepted, the strength of the Assembly will fall to 206. The Congress, on its own, will then be left with 92 seats while the BJP has 107 seats with the magic number for a majority being 104.
Meanwhile several of the nearly 90 Congress MLAs who landed in Jaipur told reporters that there was no threat to the Kamal Nath government and it will survive.
The MLAs arrived at the Jaipur airport around 2.30pm in a special flight from Bhopal and were received by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot along with other party leaders.
In a conversation with reporters, a party legislator said, “The Kamal Nath government will complete its term. There is no threat. We all are together.” He said the Congress MLAs who supported Jyotiraditya were ‘misled and deceived’ by the BJP.
Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Kantilal Bhuria, who also came to Jaipur with the MLAs, said there was no threat to the government.
“There is no threat to the government. The state government has the majority,” he said, adding that the MLAs will be visiting tourist places in the city.
MLA Harsh Yadav said those who have gone with Scindia will be rejected by people. “The Kamal Nath government will continue. Those who are in touch with us, will come back,” Yadav said.
Other MLAs like Mahesh Parmar and Shivdayal said they were confident about the government’s survival and accused the BJP of misleading the MLAs who have gone with Scindia. “The BJP has misled them,” said a MLA.
Agencies