‘Operation Bengaluru’ to save Nath? Cong shifts MLAs to Jaipur; both sides confident of proving majority
The ruling Congress in Madhya Pradesh has banked on its “Operation Bengaluru”, launched by the party late on Tuesday night, to “rescue” its 22 MLAs kept in a resort in the southern city for the last four days, to save the 15-month Kamal Nath government from the brink of collapse.
Two senior ministers in the Kamal Nath government, PWD minister Sajjan Singh Verma and general administration minister Govind Singh, were flown to Bengaluru late Tuesday night to tap “local resources” to “rescue” the 22 rebel Congress MLAs, loyalists of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP on Wednesday.
“We have succeeded in making contact with at least a dozen Congress MLAs kept in a resort in Bengaluru through their wives. We have roped in the Karnataka Congress leadership to rescue them”, a senior Congress leader told this newspaper here on Wednesday.
Chief minister Kamal Nath has asked the two ministers to submit a report to him on the progress made in “Operation Bengaluru” from “time to time”, he said. Sources said the Congress leadership in Karantaka was initially not keen to come to the rescue of the Kamal Nath government. However, the Kartanaka Congress leaders “sprang to action following a directive by the party high command on Wednesday”, sources said. “We got in touch with 10 out of 22 MLAs kept in the resort in Bengaluru. A move is on to shift them to a resort by the local Congress leadership”, the Congress leader said, requesting not to be quoted.
“Cracks appeared in rebel Congress group when Mr Scindia joined the BJP. Some of them were not willing to follow Mr Scindia’s footsteps and join the BJP for their own political interest”, Congress spokesperson Shobha Ojha said here. In another development,
■ Continued from Page 1 Congress MLA Bishahulal Singh, who joined the BJP on Tuesday, did not accompany the BJP MLAs who were taken to a luxury hotel in Haryana on Wednesday to save them from being poached by the Congress.
The development has given the Congress hope that he might return to the party fold. In another development, state parliamentary affairs minister Govind Singh on Wednesday submitted petitions to MP Assembly Speaker N.P. Prajapati seeking disqualification of six state ministers who were among the 22 Congress MLAs currently camping in Bengaluru.
The disqualification of six ministers would dash the hopes of the BJP to secure the victory of its second Rajya Sabha candidate in the March 26 biennial polls in MP, Congress leaders said. Three RS seats are going to the polls in MP.
The BJP on Wednesday declared Mr Scindia as one of its two RS candidates to be fielded in MP.
The name of the other BJP candidate was yet to be declared.
“The disqualification of six ministers hardly matters to the BJP since we now enjoy a majority in the House after 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the party, reducing the effective strength of the House to 228 and of the Congress to 92. The Kamal Nath government will fall if a floor test is conducted in the House”, a BJP spokesman here said. The BJP has 107 MLAs.
“We are confident of proving our majority in the House”, chief minister Kamal Nath said on Wednesday, indicating his government may go in for a floor test in the Assembly shortly.
The Congress was also mulling seeking disqualification of all 22 rebel MLAs from the Speaker. The Congress late on Tuesday night shifted its “92 MLAs” to a resort in Jaipur in Rajasthan to save them from being poached by the BJP. One BJP MLA, Narayan Tripathy, has stayed back in Bhopal.