Amidst high voltage drama, the Congress government elected Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker, with 121 votes in a 230-member assembly. Narmada Prasad Prajapati has been elected as speaker even as the BJP boycotted the proceedings, terming the election a “murder of democracy”. Chief Minister Kamal Nath countered the BJP argument, saying the saffron party did not have sufficient numbers, so they ran away.
This was the first floor test faced by Kamal Nath. Congress has 114 MLAs, and the BJP has 109. In the election, Congress secured 120 votes. Protem speaker Deepak Saxena did not vote.
In the morning, when the session started, the ruling Congress presented the name of Prajapati as their candidate. The BJP had listed Vijay Shah as their candidate.
However, before the opposition candidate could be discussed, protem speaker Deepak Saxena said the house will first discuss the proposal of the ruling party; after that, the proposal of opposition would be taken up.
This led the opposition to protest and stall the proceedings of house. Protem speaker had to adjourn the house twice for 10 minutes each. Later, when he wanted to give a ruling about the election process, the entire opposition stood up and started shouting slogans.
After a while, as the process for election began, BJP MLAs boycotted the house and walked to governor's residence, registering protest against the act of Congress in not allowing their candidate to contest the speaker's election.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who was in Bhopal to oversee the first floor test of Kamal Nath government, said that the BJP was creating unnecessary drama as they did not have the numbers.
He later told the media that the BJP had tried hard to buy Congress MLA Kedar Kushwaha. Digvijay Singh accused former BJP minister Narottam Mishra and Vishwas Sarang of kidnapping the Congress MLA and luring him with an offer of Rs 100 crore to switch sides.
Earlier in the day, the BJP elected former minister Gopal Bhargav as leader of opposition.
