The political drama in Madhya Pradesh has reached its acme.
Amidst this, one thing is inevitable – In next two days, Kamal Nath government is on the verge of collapse and Shivraj Singh Chouhan is going to don chief minister’s mantle. This is because, the Congress has realised that its government has lost majority with 22 MLAs, tendering their resignation to Speaker N P Prajapati.
The BJP, meanwhile, has moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to Kamal Nath to undertake floor test, which was scheduled to be held today as per Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon’s orders, but was intentionally and willfully defied.
This was an extension of the series of drama staged by Congress in the state, which had plunged into a political crisis after Jyotiraditya Scindia had resigned from the party last week to join BJP, which was followed by resignation of 22 party MLAs loyal to him.
Congress Trickery
Soon after the Governor had ordered Congress to face a floor test in the assembly, the Speaker, fully aware of the minority government’s status, resorted to delay tactics by adjourning the session till March 26, so that the Congress gets time to appease rebel MLAs and bring them back to its fold.
Earlier Kamal Nath, on Sunday, had exuded “confidence” of facing the floor test, but, on Monday, he asked the Governor to postpone it, saying that the atmosphere was not “conducive” for it.
Not only this, he started to make false claims that the BJP had taken hostage 22 of his MLAs in a Bengaluru hotel, but the fact of the matter is that they had lodged a complaint, seeking police protection against their own party legislators, who were making attempts to bring them back to the fold.
The party also made false claims of having the support of BJP MLAs to save Kamal Nath’s government. If it was so, Kamal Nath should have faced the floor test today as the Governor felt that his government had lost majority in the house.
Congress also played the trick of asking BJP to move a no-confidence motion against Kamal Nath government. The BJP did not opt for this, because, it would have given Kamal Nath to buy some more time. Normally, it takes 14 days to complete no-confidence motion.
The Lutyens media and its eco-system, however, are resorting to illusionary tactics, by arguing that the Speaker has the ultimate authority in deciding the date of trust vote, but the Governor has an over-riding power to send a proposal to the President to dismiss the government, if it is not conforming to the constitutional norms.
This step could have considered as an extreme step, therefore, the BJP moved the apex court.
Political Possibilities
The Supreme Court is expected to direct Kamal Nath government to hold the floor test in 48 hours as per its earlier orders relating to Maharashtra and Karnataka cases.
The Congress, on the other hand, may disqualify 22 rebel MLAs ahead of the trust vote as Karnataka Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar did by disqualifying 17 rebel MLAs. The Karnataka Speaker had barred the rebel MLAs from contesting elections till 2023.
However, the Supreme Court upheld the disqualification of the MLAs, but struck down the period of ban on them for contesting elections. Therefore, they were allowed to contest future elections.
Therefore, the Congress has been trapped from all corners. The only option left for Kamal Nath is to gracefully tender his resignation as chief minister.