Kamal Nath quits, lotus rises in MP

Curtains came down on the 15-month old Congress government in Madhya Pradesh as Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Friday resigned from his post hours before a floor test mandated by the Supreme Court.

With the BJP gearing up to form its government in MP, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seemed to be the front runner in the race for the post of chief minister.

Mr Chouhan, who played a key role in keeping his flock of BJP MLAs together in the face of the threat by Congress to split the BJP Legislature Party (BJPLP) to save the Kamal Nath government after it was reduced to a minority, is billed to be elected leader of BJPLP in a day or two.

The Kamal Nath-led state government had been teetering on the verge of collapse after Jyotiraditya Scindia rebelled over a Rajya

Sabha seat and joined the BJP. Following this,

22 MLAs loyal to him, including six ministers holed up in Bangalore resigned.

The strength of the ruling Congress has reduced to 92 following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs. The BJP has

107 MLAs in the House. “I wanted that the Congress should not go to the palace (referring to Mr Scindia), but the palace should come to Congress. A Maharaja’s hunger for power led to the collapse of my government”, Mr Nath remarked while taking a dig at Mr Scindia for leaving the Congress, leading to the resignation of his loyalists from the House.

THE STRENGTH of the ruling Congress in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly has reduced to 92 following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs. The BJP has 107 MLAs in the House.

As both the BJP and the Congress approached the Supreme Court, the apex court mandated a floor test on Friday before 5 pm.

Mr Nath announced his decision to step down as chief minister at a press conference called at his official residence in Bhopal and then left for Raj Bhawan to tender his resignation to Governor Laji Tandon.

Mr Scindia said the duty of people’s representatives was to serve the people and the Kamal Nath government had strayed from the path (of serving the people). “Truth prevails,” he tweeted while reacting to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.

N.P. Prajapati, the Speaker of MP Assembly, had accepted the resignations of the 16 rebel Congress MLAs a little past midnight on Thursday following the Supreme Court’s order, dimming the chances of the survival of the Kamal Nath government.

Mr Prajapati later sprang a surprise when he accepted the resignation of BJP MLA Sharad Kol, leaving the BJP here anxious.

The ruling Congress here had been giving the impression that the chief minister still has some tricks up his sleeve when state minister Sajjan Singh Verma said that there was no question of avoiding floor test and that his Congress was confident of surviving the trust vote with the support of some dissident BJP MLAs.

However, suspense over the fate of the Kamal Nath government ended when Mr Kol released a letter written by him to the Speaker earlier, requesting him not to accept his resignation.

Announcing his resignation, Mr Nath blamed the “hunger for power” of rebel Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who joined the BJP recently, as well as a conspiracy by the BJP, for the collapse of his government.

“Who took the Congress MLAs to Bengaluru and who was behind the resignations of these MLAs will be known in coming days”, he said and accused the BJP of conspiring to topple his government from the very day he took over as chief minister of the state.

“The BJP leaders were reminding me every now and then in the last 15 months that my government will go after 15 days,” he said.

Mr Nath said the BJP was scared of him because he had initiated steps for the development of the state as well as the weaker sections in the state in his short tenure of 15 months.

He dropped hints that he would bounce back soon.

“Tomorrow will come and day after tomorrow will come after tomorrow. We should wait (for opportunity)”, he said, indicating that the new BJP government in the state may face challenges to provide a stable government in view of its strength in the House.

Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan denied charges that the BJP had any role to play in the fall of Kamal Nath government.