In a bid to keep its flock together, the crisis-hit Congress has decided to shift its 92 remaining MLAs in Madhya Pradesh either to Jaipur or some other place.
The move comes after 22 Congress MLAs loyal to former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned on Tuesday, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.
"We are going to take our 92 MLAs and those supporting our Madhya Pradesh government to a hotel," a senior Congress leader said on Wednesday.
The legislators would be taken either to Jaipur in Rajasthan or some other Congress-ruled state like Chhattisgarh, a party source said.
Apart from its own MLAs, the Congress is also keeping a close watch on four independent MLAs who are supporting the Kamal Nath government.
On Tuesday, 22 Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh resigned soon after Scindia quit the party.
The development reduced the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh to minority status.
The state Congress unit is now making all efforts to save the Kamal Nath government.
The BJP on Tuesday night shifted its MLAs to Manesar at Gurugram in Haryana, sources in the saffron party said. Interestingly, Vijay Shah, a BJP MLA, was quoted by ANI on Tuesday night as saying the party's MLAs "are going either to Bengaluru or Delhi".
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The Congress, whose tally before the rebellion was 114, had a wafer-thin majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly whose current effective strength is 228.
It also has the support of four independents, two BSP legislators and one SP MLA, but some of them are now likely to switch sides to the BJP.
The BJP has 107 seats in the state Assembly.
Congress confident
Despite the apparent desperation to move its MLAs, the Congress has been putting up a brave face. Shobha Oza, the Congress spokesperson in Madhya Pradesh told ANI on Wednesday, "We will prove majority on the floor of the house. All the Congress MLAs who are in Bengaluru were being misled; they are with us. Even BJP MLAs are in touch with us."
Former Congress chief minister Digvijaya Singh told The Indian Express in an interview that "There will be surprises when the floor test happens, maybe on March 18".
(With PTI inputs)
