The current effective strength of the state assembly is 228, with two seats lying vacant. While Congress has 114 MLAs, there are 107 legislators of the BJP.
A rattled Congress, hit by the resignations of senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 of its legislators in Madhya Pradesh, said on Tuesday it still has the required numbers to prove its majority in the state assembly.
The current effective strength of the state assembly is 228, with two seats lying vacant. While Congress has 114 MLAs, there are 107 legislators of the BJP.
The seven others are two MLAs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one from the Samajwadi Party (SP), and four Independents. These seven support the Kamal Nath government, giving it a narrow majority of six.
As chief minister Kamal Nath said there was nothing to worry about and that his government will complete its term, several other leaders of the Congress reiterated the claim.
State minister PC Sharma also said while speaking to reporters that the MLAs who had resigned were still in touch with Nath.
“They were trapped with an assurance that they were being taken out of the state only to support Jyotiraditya Scindia’s candidature for the Rajya Sabha. They were cheated into signing resignation letters. They are not happy with Scindia hobnobbing with the BJP,” he said, according to news agency PTI.
“We have the numbers which we will prove during a floor test in the House,” he claimed.
Most of these MLAs are considered to be supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who announced on Tuesday that he had quit the Congress party. The 49-year-old leader is expected to join the BJP.
As the developments took place, ”around 100” MLAs, including four Independents, attended a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in Bhopal.
An unnamed minister was cited as saying by PTI that they expressed faith in Kamal Nath’s leadership. However, two BSP and one SP MLA who support the government skipped the meeting, he said.
“We resolved to put up a brave fight. We are going to come out triumphant. There is no threat to the government. We are going to prove that in a floor test if the situation arises,” the minister was quoted as saying by PTI.
The BJP Legislature Party also held its meeting.
As both the Congress and BJP leaders met in the national capital and Bhopal, the parties decided to take their legislators away to prevent attempts to “poach” them.
Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava said all the BJP legislators were going to “celebrate Holi” at an undisclosed location.
“We are going to celebrate Holi. We are going to the airport in buses. From there we will leave for the location as per the directives of party leaders,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said, according to PTI.
Buses were seen parked near the party office in Bhopal and later leaving after the state BJP MLAs boarded the buses.
“We are going either to Bengaluru or Delhi,” MLA Vijay Shah said according to ANI.
Prasanta Patnaik