Kamal Nath resigns as CM before MP floor test
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath submitted his resignation to governor Lalji Tandon, on Friday, two hours before a floor test in the state assembly on the directions of the Supreme Court (SC) that his government looked set to lose.
The BJP legislative party will elect its leader on Saturday, and subsequently meet the governor to stake its claim to forming the government, party leaders said. BJP leaders said central party observers will be in Bhopal to conduct the legislative party meeting, in which the chief minister-designate will be decided.
Celebrations took place at the BJP’S office in Bhopal after Nath’s resignation in which senior party leaders participated.
The resignation of Nath, who assumed office on December 17, 2018, as the 18th chief minister of the state, brought to an end the troubled 15-month tenure of the Congress, which, in late 2018, dislodged the BJP, which had ruled Madhya Pradesh for 15 years.
In the assembly records, the Congress government was reduced to minority on Thursday night when the speaker of the state assembly, NP Prajapati, accepted the resignation of 16 rebel Congress lawmakers, hours after the Supreme Court asked the speaker to conduct a floor test by 5 pm on Friday.
Last week, the speaker accepted the resignation of six MLAS who were ministers. All 22 MLAS stayed together in a Bengaluru resort; the Congress accused the BJP of holding these MLAS captive.
With the resignation of the MLAS being accepted, the strength of the 230-member state assembly was reduced to 206 (two seats are vacant) and the majority mark to 104. Post resignations, the Congress was left with 92 members. There are four independent and two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAS and one Samajwadi Party MLA, who were supporting the government.