Mayawati becomes kingmaker as BSP extends support to Congress in Madhya Pradesh

Ending more than a 24 hours of suspense, the BSP has extended its support to the Congress to form government in Madhya Pradesh. "To keep the BJP out of power, we have agreed to support Congress in Madhya Pradesh and if need be in Rajasthan, even though we don't agree with many of their policies," said BSP chief Mayawati. 

Soon after Mayawati's declaration of support to the Congress, BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan has opted to resign as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and will not stake claim to form government. "We did not get majority, will not stake claim to form government, I am going to tender my resignation to the governor," Chouhan said.

The Congress delegation will meet Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel at 12 noon to stake claim to form government. 

The BSP has two seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress has 114 seats in its kitty. The SP, which has one seat, had extended its support to the Congress on Tuesday itself. 

With the BSP and the SP coming in, the Congress, which was 2 seats short of the majority, has now 117 seats—the majority mark in Madhya Pradesh assembly is 116. In addition, the Congress has also claimed that it has the support of the four independents who have won the elections. 

With the numbers favouring the Congress and Chouhan unwilling to stake claim, Governor Anandiben Patel will now have to call the Congress to form government in Madhya Pradesh. 

READ: Madhya Pradesh: High-voltage battle as leads see-saw between BJP, Congress

Here's the final party position of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections: 

Total seat : 230

Congress : 114 

BJP : 109

BSP : 02

SP : 01

Independents : 04

Total : 230

Late last night, Congress state president Kamal Nath had submitted a letter to Governor Anandiben Patel, staking claim to form government. He later said his party had the numbers to form government in the central state. "We have majority numbers with us to form the government. Even Independents, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party have also supported us. We have sought an appointment with the governor and we will apprise her about the majority figure that we have and request her to invite us to form the government," Nath told reporters in the early hours of Wednesday.

He said the party has called a meeting of its newly elected MLAs on Wednesday evening.