Congress, BJP head for showdown in MP Assembly

Independent MLA Surendra Singh Shera as he leaves Raja Bhoj Airport on returning from Jaipur, in Bhopal, Sunday. Pic/PTI

The political drama in Madhya Pradesh is all set to shift to the Assembly after the governor directed Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek a trust vote on Monday and Speaker NP Prajapati said he will first give a ruling on whether to hold the floor test.

As the rebellion led by Jyotiraditya Scindia threatened the survival of its government, the Congress appeared keen on putting off the trust vote and asserted that it is the Speaker's prerogative to decide about the proceedings of the House, but a buoyed BJP maintained that he was bound by the governor's direction.

After the Speaker accepted the resignation of six Congress MLAs on Saturday, the party now has 108 legislators. These include 16 rebel legislators who have also put in their papers but their resignations are yet to be accepted.

The BJP has 107 seats in the House which now has an effective strength of 222, with the majority mark being 112. To add to the ruling Congress' woes, it is yet uncertain whether it will continue getting the support of four Independents, two BSP MLAs and one MLA from the SP. The week-long political drama saw both the Congress and the BJP herding their MLAs to resorts outside the state due to fears of poaching. While the Congress MLAs returned on Sunday from Jaipur, the BJP too was bringing back its legislators from Haryana to attend the first day of the session on Monday. Both parties have issued whips to their MLAs.

On Saturday night, Governor Lalji Tandon wrote to Kamal Nath asking him to seek a trust vote in the Assembly soon after the governor address on Monday, saying his government was in minority. But the Assembly Speaker on Sunday remained non committal over the trust vote. Sources said both parties were mulling legal recourse in case the proceedings do not go their way.

22
No. of MLAs who resigned

Four Gujarat Cong MLAs resign

Four Congress MLAs in Gujarat have tendered their resignation to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi ahead of the election to the four Rajya Sabha seats in the state to be held on March 26. With this, the strength of the Congress party in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly has come down to 69 from 73. The Congress had on Saturday shifted its 14 MLAs to Jaipur fearing horse-trading by the ruling BJP ahead of Rajya Sabha polls.

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