Virus may come to rescue of Nath govt

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 15

While both Congress and BJP exuded confidence on the eve of expected trust vote of the Kamal Nath government in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, speculation is rife that Speaker NP Prajapati “can delay the floor test” due to Covid-19.

Both parties have issued whip to their MLAs to be present during the Assembly session on Monday during which the saffron party will seek a floor test.

Amid the existential crisis facing the Congress government, reports from the state ahead of the Budget session have quoted Prajapati as saying “health of an individual must assume more significance than anything else”.

The Speaker also said he was concerned about the health of democracy in light of allegations of “kidnapping” of Congress MLAs by the BJP. Governor Lalji Tandon had on Saturday directed Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek a trust vote soon after his scheduled address on the first day of the Budget session tomorrow.

Prajapati, however, refused to commit whether he would order a floor test on March 16. “This will be known tomorrow,” he told reporters. Interestingly, state Public Relations Minister PC Sharma sought Covid test on his party MLAs who have returned from Jaipur and those ensconced in Haryana and Bengaluru.

The Congress-led government plunged into a crisis after senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia jumped ship and joined the BJP. Congress MLAs camping in Bengaluru are believed to be his supporters.

Prajapati has already accepted the resignation of six rebel Congress MLAs - all ministers in the government. Following this, the strength of the 230-member House is now down to 222 and majority mark 112.

Resignations of 16 other rebel legislators have not been accepted. According to BJP leaders, delaying the trust vote “would not be of any use”. While the Congress strength is down to 92, its leaders insist the six MLAs are still with it.

Before the political crisis began, the Congress had 114 MLAs and the BJP 107.

If the BJP manages to do a Karnataka in Madhya Pradesh, the next big question will be regarding the Chief Minister.

Along with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the former CM, several names are doing the rounds, including that of Morena MP Narendra Singh Tomar, the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Minister of Rural Development in Modi Cabinet.

Others include Thawar Chand Gehlot, Leader of the Rajya Sabha, Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of Tourism and Damoh MP, and Kailash Vijayvargiya, the Indore leader and BJP general secretary who served as the Cabinet minister in the state and is believed to be “close” to Home Minister Amit Shah.

‘Accept’ resignations

• Sixteen of the 22 Congress MLAs who quit the Assembly have urged the Speaker to accept their resignations
• Claim they are unable to be present in person before him due to ‘poor’ law & order
• The Speaker had on March 14 accepted the resignations of six of the 22 MLAs