Congress enters government formation mode in MP, Raj
LOBBYING MLAs in both states leave choice to Rahul; Scindia, Nath lead in MP, Gehlot and Pilot in Rajasthan
The Congress on Wednesday staked claim to form the government in Madhya Pradesh after the party claimed majority in the 230member assembly with the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party. A delegation of Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh met governor Anandiben Patel in the day, hours after the Congress emerged the single largest party in the assembly.
The Congress won 114 seats in Madhya Pradesh, where the result came down to the wire, just short of the majority mark of 116. Mayawati-led BSP announced it would support the Congress to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too said the party would support the Congress to form the government in the state.
The Congress is yet to declare who the chief minister will be and has left it to party president Rahul Gandhi decide. Nath and Scindia are frontrunners.
While the BSP won two seats and the SP won one, incumbent BJP led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan managed to secure 109 in a closely fought election. Governor Patel called the Congress leaders to the Raj Bhawan at noon for talks after the party sought an appointment with her on the issue of government formation. “The Congress has emerged as the single largest party with majority support.
BHOPAL:
The BSP, the SP and Independents have assured their support in favour of the Congress,” Nath, the state Congress chief, said in a letter to the governor. The party has the support of 121 MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, party spokesperson Narendra Saluja claimed Wednesday.
Meanwhile, accepting the party’s defeat, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan submitted his resignation to Patel. “Ab mein mukt hoon (I am free)… The responsibility of defeat is mine,” Chouhan said, addressing the media after tendering his resignation on Wednesday.
Chouhan met the governor to tender his resignation shortly before Nath was to meet her. “With the support of BSP’s two, SP’s one and four independent candidates, the Congress’ tally is 121 in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly,” Saluja told reporters at the Raj Bhawan after Congress leaders met the governor.
Earlier in the day, addressing a press conference, Mayawati had said that her party was going to extend its support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan “to keep the BJP out”.
The Congress, which was running neck-and-neck with the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, had almost the same vote share as that of the BJP at around 41%, and the difference of votes polled by the parties across the state was only 47,827.
The Congress snatched Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the BJP and made massive gains in Madhya Pradesh at the cost of the BJP.