Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders seen escorting one of the MLAs out of the Gurgaon hotel.
The 15-month-old Congress government in Madhya Pradesh led by Kamal Nath, which has a wafer-thin majority, has been pushed to the brink with the party alleging that the BJP has confined a few of its MLAs at five-star hotel in Gurgaon near Delhi. In dramatic developments overnight, top Congress leaders from the state were seen escorting one of the MLAs out of the hotel with her bags. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh says four MLAs are still inside the hotel. Denying the BJP's involvement, former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Congress MLAs themselves are worried. This is their internal matter. And they accuse us. What is this?... Their job is to make accusations. The Congress is fighting internally and then accuse us.What is the meaning of this?" Top Congress sources said the situation is under control. "They keep doing this and trying to break our government. We will resist it," party sources said. The Congress has alleged that its party leaders were denied access to the MLAs.
Here are the top 10 updates on the Madhya Pradesh MLAs:
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said Ramabai, a suspended MLA from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), managed to leave the ITC Grand Bharat in Manesar in Gurgaon. At around 2 am, Madhya Pradesh ministers and Congress leaders Jitu Patwari and Jaivardhan Singh who is Digvijaya Singh's son, were seen coming out of the hotel in Gurgaon's Manesar along with Ms Ramabai.
"People with whom our contact was established were ready to come back to us. We were able to get in touch with Bisahulal Singh (Congress MLA) and Ramabai. Ramabai came back, even when the BJP tried to stop her," Mr Singh told news agency ANI early this morning.
The four who are reportedly still inside the hotel are Congress's Hardeep Dang, Raghuraj Kansana and Bisahulal Singh and Independent MLA Shera Bhaiya. There are reports that the four may be moved to Chikmagalur in BJP-ruled Karnataka.
Six others who the Congress says it managed to rescue from the hotel are currently at another hotel in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj. They include suspended BSP MLA Ramabai, Congress's Sanjiv Singh, Ranvir Jatav, Rajvardhan Dattigaon, Kamlesh Jatav and Rajesh Shukla (Samajwadi Party).
On Tuesday, Digvijaya Singh had alleged that the BJP was trying to bribe MLAs of his party by "offering Rs 25-35 crore". "The BJP's Rampal Singh, Narottam Mishra, Arvind Bhadauria, Sanjay Pathak were going to give them money. Had there been a raid, they would have been caught... We think 10 to 11 MLAs were there, only four are still with them now, they will also come back to us," Mr Singh said today.
The Kamal Nath government has 120 MLAs, four over the majority mark of 116 in the 230-member assembly. Out of these, 113 are from the Congress, two from the BSP, one from the Samajwadi Party and four independents. If four members go, the government will be left with 116. The BJP has a strength of 107 MLAs. Two seats in the assembly are vacant.
Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister Jitu Patwari alleged that BJP leaders took eight MLAs to the hotel as part of a conspiracy. "Senior BJP leaders including former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former ministers Narottam Mishra, Bhupendra Singh and Rampal Singh among others have forcibly taken eight MLAs to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspiracy," Mr Patwari told news agency PTI. "The MLAs told us that they were forcibly confined by the BJP leaders," he alleged. "We are trying to bring them back. Four of them have come back also but they have forcibly taken away tribal MLA Bisahulal Singh," he alleged.
Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Tarun Bhanot told NDTV late last night that Congress MLA and former minister Bisahulal Singh called them up and informed them that "they have been forcefully kept at the ITC hotel in Gurugram and not being allowed to go out".
Last year, in July, Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava, had attacked the Kamal Nath government in the state assembly, saying: "One order from the top and your government won't survive."
"Hamare oopar wale number 1 ya number 2 ka aadesh hua to 24 ghante bhi aapki sarkar nahi chalegi (If there is an order from our top leadership, your government won't survive even 24 hours," he had said on July 24. Five hours later, during the discussion on the Criminal Law (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the state Assembly, Kamal Nath government got 122 votes in favor, seven more than majority in 231-member state assembly.
