How Kamal Nath government toppled over in MP
The Congress lost Madhya Pradesh within 15 months of assuming power in December 2018
Dec 14:
Kamal Nath stakes claim to form the government with the support of all the four independent, 2 BSP and 1 SP MLA, thus claiming to have the strength of 121 MLAs in the House
Dec 17:
Nath, 72, is sworn in as the 18th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and within a week, inducts 28 MLAs in his cabinet; all are given cabinet rank
April 7:
IT dept raids residences and other establishments associated with Nath’s political advisor RK Miglani and his OSD in the secretariat, Praveen Kakkar.
Sept 3:
Forest minister Umang
Singhar accuses Digvijaya of running the government from behind the curtains and writes to Congress president Sonia Gandhi requesting her to stop his interference.
March 3/4, 2020:
High drama in Gurugram. Digvijaya alleges at least eight MLAs were taken to a resort by BJP in an attempt on horse-trading. One of the MLAs, BSP’s Rambai Singh
Parihar, is brought back by ministers Jaivardhan Singh and
Jitendra
Patwari. Later, it turns out there were 10 MLAs, including seven from Congress. Four of the MLAs, including three from Congress, fly to Bengaluru and go incommunicado. In the next few days, eight more, including six Congress MLAs, return and show their support to Nath.
March 8:
19 Congress MLAs, most of them from the Gwalior-Chambal region go incommunicado. They are traced to a Bengaluru resort. Nath and Digvijaya accuse BJP of holding them captive. 3 more Cong MLAs join the 19 in Bengaluru. March 10:
Jyotiraditya Scindia quits Congress March 10: 19 Congress MLAs send their resignation to the Governor and Speaker through e-mail. BJP MLA Bhupendra Singh hands over the original copy of the resignation letters to the Speaker. The remaining three Congress MLAs, while in Bhopal, submit their resignation one after another.
March 11:
Scindia joins BJP in Delhi
March 13:
Nath meets guv and hands over a letter, requesting him to use his good office for the rescue of MLAs from ‘the BJP leaders’ captivity’, with the help of union home minister Amit Shah. Scindia files his nomination papers for RS
March 14:
Speaker Prajapati accepts resignations of six
MLAs, who were ministers. A delegation of BJP leaders, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Gopal Bhargava, Narottam Mishra, Bhupendra Singh, meets the Governor, hands over a letter to him and requests him to ask the Congress to prove its majority.
March 14/15: In a midnight missive to the CM, the Governor asks him to seek trust vote on the very first day of the state assembly’s budget session on March 16 immediately after his (Governor’s) address March 15:
CM claims he enjoys the majority in the House as he had proved it several times in the past but there will be no meaning of a floor test if it is held with Cong MLAs being held captive
March 16: No floor test is held. Assembly adjourned till March 26 citing concern over the impact of Coronavirus outbreak. 10 BJP MLAs led by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan move the Supreme Court to challenge the Speaker’s decision. March 17:
In a letter to the Governor, the CM reiterates his stand and says if any floor test is held in the absence of 22 Congress MLAs held captive; it will be unconstitutional, dares BJP to come with a no-confidence motion March 18:
Digvijaya Singh, Congress’ Rajya Sabha candidate accompanied by KPCC president DK Shivakumar, reaches Bengaluru resort to meet at least six ministers of Nath cabinet and three other MLAs. MLAs refuse to meet them
March 19:
Supreme Court allows Chouhan’s petition and orders a floor test in the state assembly.
March 20.
Speaker Prajapati accepts resignation of 16 MLAs.
March 20:
In the early hours, the Speaker issues a notification to reconvene the assembly to hold a floor test. Nath announces at a press conference he will tender his resignation. Later, he reaches Raj Bhavan to give his resignation letter to the Governor.