Madhya Pradesh Political Crisis: 22 MLAs including six ministers close to Scindia resign, seek protection

Hours after senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the party, 22 MLAs including six ministers who are said to be close to Scindia submitted their resignation to Governor Lalji Tandon via email. The MLAs who are presently staying at a Bengaluru resort sought protection and police escort by writing to the Karnataka DGP after submitting their resignation. 

The resignation of 22 MLAs has created a political crisis for the Congress party brining the Kamal Nath government on the verge of collapse as it is most likely run short of the required numbers to form the government.

The names of the MLAs who have resigned include - Raghuraj Kansana, Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Imarti Devi, Prabhuram Choudhary, Suresh Dhaker, OPS Bhadoria, Girraj Dandotiya, Brajendra Singh Yadav, Kamlesh Jatav, Jajpal Singh Jajji, Prabhuram Chaudhary, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Ranveer Jatav, Jaswant Jatav, Govind Rajput, Hardeep Dung, Munna Lal Goyal, Tulsi Silawat, Manoj Choudhary, Bhishalal Shah and Andal Singh Kansana.   The number of the resignation of Congress MLAs may increase, claimed sources.

Congress MLA Bisahulal Sahu, who resigned from the Assembly and joined the BJP on Tuesday also said that many more Congress MLAs would leave the party as they are unhappy with party leadership. 

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath wrote to state Governor Lalji Tandon and asked him to immediately remove six ministers from his cabinet who according to him have left the state government in grave crisis. 

Scindia is likely to join BJP at 6 pm on Tuesday, said sources. Earlier today, Scindia resigned from Congress party, soon after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he is unable to serve the people from within the party.

Scindia in his resignation letter dated March 9 said that it is time for him to "move on". The letter, addressed to interim party chief Sonia Gandhi, says, "... as you well know, this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year."

The letter further stated, "While my aim and purpose remain the same as it has always been from the very beginning, to serve the people of my state and country, I believe I am unable to do this anymore within this party.''

Scindia had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi after which the speculations of him joining the BJP began. 

Meanwhile, the BJP President JP Nadda also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday to discuss the further plans of the party and they are likely to address a press conference making some major announcements. 

Responding to Scindia's resignation, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, Congress leader in Lok Sabha, said, "Scindia ji held many senior posts in Congress party and was well respected, maybe he got lured by the offer of ministership given by Modi ji. We know his family has been associated with BJP for decades, but yet it is a big loss."

Speaking on Scindia's resignation, BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that for some Congress leaders are double standard as Scindia used to be their Maharaja when he was in the party but now he has become a mafia for them. 

According to reports, Scindia had been sulking for a long time as he was neither assured of a Rajya Sabha berth not made the state Congress unit chief, a position that is still held by Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

In the 230 member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the Congress has 114 MLAs and the support of four Independents, three Samajwadi Party MLAs and two Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs. The BJP has 109 MLAs. Two seats are currently vacant.