BJP To Seek Floor Test In Madhya Pradesh Assembly On March 16

The BJP in Madhya Pradesh will seek a floor test on March 16 in the wake of 22 Congress MLAs resigning in the state, a senior BJP leader said on Thursday. The 15-month-old Kamal Nath-led government has been facing deep crisis following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs after former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party on Tuesday. "Since the government is in minority, we are going to request the governor and the Assembly speaker for a floor test on March 16 when the state budget session begins," BJP's chief whip in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Narottam Mishra told reporters in Bhopal.

The governor and the speaker have the resignations of 22 MLAs. Now it is up to them to take a call, he said. "This government has lost majority," senior BJP leader former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. The Congress has a wafer-thin majority in the 228-member Assembly. Before the rebellion, its tally was 114. It also has the support of four Independents, two BSP MLAs and one from the SP, but some may now switch sides to the BJP. If the resignations of the 22 MLAs are accepted, the strength of the Assembly will fall to 206. The Congress, on its own, will then be left with 92 seats, while the BJP has 107 seats with the magic number for a majority being 104.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday ruled out a Madhya Pradesh-like political drama in Maharashtra, saying the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance government is doing "very well" in the state. Talking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai, Pawar also said Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the party to join the BJP, had sought "quick rehabilitation" after losing the Lok Sabha poll. Asked if the Congress is to be blamed for the imminent fall of the Kamal Nath government, Pawar said the party has a "good and capable leadership".

On the impact of Scindia's exit on the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, Pawar said, "Some people have confidence in the capacity of Kamal Nath and feel a miracle can happen." Pawar said he had full confidence in the capabilities of Kamal Nath. "It will be known in the next one or two days if it (miracle by Kamal Nath) will happen.I don't know the structure of Madhya Pradesh Assembly, But if there was a dialogue with "Raja Saheb" (Scindia), this situation wouldn't have arisen," Pawar said. "He (Scindia) wanted to be given new responsibilities after his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections (last year). But this is not the Congress' culture and itis not easy," he said.