Nath makes his case before MP guv
BHOPAL: Even as Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Friday told governor Lalji Tandon that he was ready to face a floor test provided 22 rebel Congress MLAs were released from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s “captivity”, the administration imposed prohibitory orders and deployed additional security forces at Bhopal airport.
The orders banning public gatherings of four or more people and security reinforcements followed a huge assembly of supporters of the two rival parties at the airport following reports of the rebel Congress legislators returning from Bengaluru.
On Friday morning, Nath met Tandon at Raj Bhavan and submitted a letter seeking intervention of Union home minister Amit Shah to bring back the legislators held “captive” in Bangalore. The CM also asked Tandon to accept his recommendation to sack six ministers, considered close to Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose decision to shift to the Bharatiya Janata Party this week has triggered a crisis for the MP government, from his cabinet. This was notified in the evening.
Soon after the meeting, reports started emerging that the rebel legislators may return. Police officers said that two buses were apparently sent by BJP leaders to facilitate travel of the MLAs from the airport to the state assembly, where they were supposed to meet speaker NP Prajapati to explain their resignations.
Soon, a large number of Congress workers, including some ministers, reached the airport, following which the Bhopal district administration issued prohibitory orders. The police then started dispersing the crowd as additional security personnel were deployed around the airport, police officials said.
Pankaj Chaturvedi, who resigned as Congress spokesperson after former Union minister Scindia joined the BJP, said, “There were people in the crowd with lathis and sticks. There was an unprecedented deployment of police force and the police action was biased against the BJP workers. It all shows how the Kamal Nath government, which talks of democracy, wants to throttle democracy.”
Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Bhopal, Irshad Wali, said, “The allegations regarding biased action and security threat are baseless and fabricated. The fact is we removed each and every person from the airport. There were about 300 police personnel. Collector of Bhopal, Tarun Pithode, and I supervised the situation. We detained a number of persons and released them near jail. We did our best and will continue to do our best to uphold the sanctity of our institutions.”
BJP leaders said the chaos at the airport resulted in the postponement of return of the rebel MLAs. “All the 22 MLAs had moved out of Bengaluru resort to return to Bhopal. Chartered planes were ready but unprecedented deployment of about 1,000 police personnel at Bhopal airport alarmed the MLAs as well as top BJP leaders. Hence, it was decided to return to MP only when there is enough CISF security,” said a BJP leader, who is in touch with the rebel Congress legislators.The BJP leader, who requested anonymity, said the decision to delay the return of the MLAs was taken when the Central Industrial Reserve Force (CISF) personnel at Bhopal airport expressed their inability to ensure the security of the MLAs. “More CISF personnel may be deployed to ensure safe return of the MLAs in batches,” the leader said. On Thursday, speaker NP Prajapati had issued notices to the 22 rebel Congress legislators to appear before him by Friday to explain the reasons for their resignation.“I waited for six of the MLAs for three hours but none turned up. I may fix a new date for them. I will talk to other MLAs on Saturday as per the rules and procedures,” Prajapati said on Friday.
Constitution expert and chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Bar Council, Shivendra Upadhyay, said, “A speaker can take his own time in deciding about resignations but in the era of technology he can talk to MLAs through video conferencing. He can request the police chief of Bengaluru to facilitate the video conferencing in a free and fair atmosphere from a police control room.”
On Friday, CM Kamal Nath met Tandon, where he expressed his openness to facing a floor test to prove a majority and asked the governor to conduct an early inquiry into the submission of resignation letters of “allegedly captive Congress legislators” by BJP leaders.