Madhya Pradesh: 19 Congress MLAs Resign From Assembly After Jyotiraditya Scindia's Exit, Kamal Nath Government in Trouble

Bengaluru, March 10: In what can pave way for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form government in Madhya Pradesh, 19 Congress MLAs, including six ministers, resigned from the state assembly on Tuesday. The legislators sent their resignations to Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon moments after Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress. These MLAs are Scindia loyalists and mysteriously flew to BJP-ruled Karnataka on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Scindia met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and he took him to the Prime Minister's residence where an hour-long meeting with PM Narendra Modi took place. Following that meeting which sealed the next move of Scindia, he released resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi. He is tipped to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday itself. The Congress, however, said that Scindia was removed from the party.

"Congress President has approved the expulsion of from the Indian National Congress Congress with immediate effect for anti-party activities," Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said moments after Scindia released his resignation letter on Twitter. In the 228-member assembly in Madhya Pradesh, following resignations of 19 legislators, Congress's number fell to 95. The BJP has 107 MLAs in the House.

Scindia and Nath have been at loggerheads ever since the Congress leadership chose the latter for the chief ministerial post. The infight came out in public last month when Scindia had told his supporters that he would hit the streets if the Kamal Nath government failed to fulfil the promises made in the party manifesto.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 10, 2020 01:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).