22 Madhya Pradesh Cong MLAs join BJP; Party to stake claim to form the government

Bhopal, March 21: Twenty-two rebel Congress MLAs, whose resignations from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly had led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government, joined the BJP on Saturday, national general secretary of the party Kailash Vijayvargiya said. These leaders, along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, met BJP president J P Nadda, who welcomed their decision to join the saffron party.

 

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to field them in the bypolls necessitated by their resignations. These former MLAs, believed to be Scindia loyalists, met Nadda at his residence. Vijayvargiya was also present there. The Assembly speaker had accepted the resignations of 16 of these rebel Congress MLAs on Thursday, a day before Chief Minister Kamal Nath chose to resign after it became clear that his government had lost the majority.

 

The speaker had accepted the resignations of six of them earlier. Scindia, a former Union minister, quit the Congress and joined the BJP recently. The saffron party is likely to stake claim to form the government in Madhya Pradesh. The Election Commission will announce the bypoll dates once the crisis brought in by the coronavirus outbreak is over.

 

Ahead of facing the floor test mandated by the Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath preferred to resign from the post as the party fell short of a majority in the House after the resignation of 22 MLAs. He submitted his papers to Governor Lalji Tandon Friday. Kamal Nath said he has decided to resign, but would continue to serve the people of the state irrespective of the post.