Madhya Pradesh Government Crisis Deepens: MLAs Close to Jyotiraditya Scindia Go Incommunicado Hours After Kamal Nath Meets Sonia Gandhi
Hours after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath met Sonia Gandhi on Monday, it is learnt that MLAs close to Jyotiraditya Scindia have gone incommunicado mysteriously.
Bhopal, March 9: Hours after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath met Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi on Monday ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, it is learnt that MLAs close to Jyotiraditya Scindia have gone incommunicado mysteriously. According to News18, 12-15 Congress legislators, including five ministers in the Kamal Nath government, are unreachable and their mobile phones are also switched off. Madhya Pradesh Government Crisis: 'Missing' Congress MLA Bisahu Lal Singh Flies Back to Bhopal, Supports Kamal Nath.
The development came a day after the Madhya Pradesh Congress, in a tweet, tried to send a message that "all is well". "We were together, we are and we will," the party said, sharing a picture of senior leaders and MLAs with CM Nath. Jyotiraditya Scindia and Nath have been at loggerheads ever since the Congress leadership chose the latter for the chief ministerial post. The infight came out in public last month when Scindia had told his supporters that he would hit the streets if the Kamal Nath government failed to fulfil the promises made in the party manifesto. Congress Infighting in Madhya Pradesh: Not Upset With Jyotiraditya Scindia, Says Kamal Nath After Party Asks Them to Iron Out Differences.
Madhya Pradesh saw a huge political drama last week after 10 MLAs, including independents who supported the Kamal Nath government, had gone "missing". Over the last week, many returned to the Congress's fold. Independent MLAs Surendra Singh Shera and Rana Vikram Singh have also announced to continue supporting the Congress government. Suspended BSP MLA Ramabai was "rescued" by Congress leaders Jitu Patwari and Digvijaya Singh's son Jai Vardhan Singh in a late-night operation.
Two MLAs, Raghuraj Singh Kansana and Hardeep Singh Dang, have still not been traced. Meanwhile, three rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs met Nath late on Thursday as two of them have openly revolted but the third one Sanjay Tripathi has said he is not leaving the BJP.
In the 228-member assembly in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has 114 seats and formed the government with the help of two BSP, one Samajwadi Party and four independent Legislators. Two seats are currently vacant after the death of the respective MLAs. The BJP has 107 seats.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2020 06:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).