
Madhya Pradesh govt on the edge as Jyotiraditya Scindia quits Congress
By Administrator_India
https://capitalsands.com/
After sailing close to the wind since the Lok Sabha elections last year, the
Madhya Pradesh government, run by the Congress, was on the verge of collapse on
Tuesday, and it looks certain that Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the BJP
will return as chief minister.
Chouhan had been chief minister from 2005 to the end of 2018, when the
Congress returned to power.
This was after four-time Lok Sabha member and former Union minister
Jyotiraditya Scindia, 49, quit the Congress. In the wake of his resignation, as
many as 21 Congress legislators believed to owe allegiance to him sent their
resignation letters to the speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
At noon, Scindia tweeted his resignation letter he had sent to Congress
interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday. He also met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. There is
speculation that he could join the BJP, get elected to the Rajya Sabha from
Madhya Pradesh, and join the Union cabinet.
As things stand now, the Congress has 114 legislators in the 230-member
assembly.
Sources said four more Congress legislators could quit. The Congress
government will lose its majority once all their resignations are accepted. Two
Bahujan Samaj Party legislators and the lone Samajwadi Party MLA, who had
supported the Congress government, are likely to withdraw support to the
government.
On Monday evening, in an effort to save the government, Nath had asked his
council of ministers to quit and offered to reconstitute it by accommodating
Scindia’s nominees. This was after 17 legislators, all Scindia supporters,
including six ministers, had flown from Bhopal to Bengaluru. However, a
compromise eluded the party.
The initial battle between Nath, senior leader Digvijaya Singh, and Scindia was about Rajya Sabha seats. However, the Scindia camp let it be known the fight was no longer about a Rajya Sabha seat but “respect”.