22 rebel MP Congress MLAs join BJP
BJP would gain majority in the Assembly if the party can secure victory of nine of them
Exactly 11 days after they resigned from the Assembly, leading to the collapse of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government, 22 rebel Congress MLAs of Madhya Pradesh were on Saturday inducted in the BJP. The former lawmakers were flown from Bengaluru, their abode during the crisis period, to Delhi in a chartered flight in the afternoon.
They were received by Mr
Jyotiraditya Scindia, who switched his allegiance to the BJP from the Congress recently, at his residence in Delhi, before being inducted in the BJP by party president J.P. Nadda.
“All of them volunteered to join the BJP in the interest of the people of Madhya Pradesh. The MLAs will now explain why they quit the Congress and joined the BJP”, Mr Scindia, who was present on the occasion, said.
Besides Mr Nadda and Mr Scindia, Union ministers
Narendra Singh Tomar and Dharmendra Pradesh and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and senior party leader Narottam Mishra were present. “Our family is now expanded with induction of the 22 former MLAs,” Mr Mishra said.
The 22 had sent their resignation letters to MP Assembly Speaker N.P. Prajapati and Governor Lalji Tandon from Bengaluru on March 10. The Speaker first accepted the resignations of six of them on March 16. The other resignations were accepted on March 19, bringing down the strength of the Congress to 92 and sealing the fate of Kamal Nath government.
The former MLAs were most likely to contest byelections from their respective Assembly constituencies as BJP candidates in the coming days. The BJP would gain majority in the House if the party can secure victory of nine of them. That would increase its strength in the 230-member MP Assembly from the current 107 to 116. A total 24 Assembly seats will go in for byelections. Two Assembly seats had fallen vacant earlier following death of legislators. Meanwhile, sources said the election of leader of the BJP Legislature Party may be put on hold till the Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled to be held on March 26.
“The BJP will stake claim to form government after the RS elections. We are now focused on the RS elections. No schedule has so far been finalised for holding the
BJP Legislature Party meeting to elect its leader,” a senior leader disclosed to this newspaper here, requesting not to be identified.
Sources said the Central BJP leadership was yet to finalise the name for the top post. Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister Pralhad Patel, Mr Tomar, Mr Vijayvargiya and Mr Mishra currently in the race for the post. “The party may spring a surprise by choosing former chief minister Uma Bharti,” sources said.