Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon directed Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek a trust vote in the Assembly soon after the former's address on March 16. A letter from the governor was sent to the chief minister in this regard around midnight, a Raj Bhawan official told PTI. "I came to know that 22 MLAs have sent their resignations to the MP Assembly speaker and they have also informed about it on electronic and print media. I have seen the coverage on both media with attention," the letter, dated March 14, said.
"They have also sent the letter to me separately on March 10, 2020 and the same MLAs have requested for security to present these resignation letters to the Vidhan Sabha speaker on March 13," the governor said. "Under Article 174 and 175(2) of the Constitution, I am empowered to direct that MP Assembly session will begin on March 16 at 11am with my address. Soon after that the only work to be done is the trust vote," the governor said in the letter. The governor also directed that the trust vote be held by division of votes, and the process be recorded on video by the Vidhan Sabha through independent persons. "The above work must be completed under any circumstances on March 16, 2020, and it should not be adjourned, delayed or suspended," he said in the letter.
How the Assembly stands
Speaker N.P. Prajapati on Saturday accepted the resignations of six former ministers from the house. The speaker said resignations of the six MLAs, who were dismissed as ministers by the governor on Friday, were accepted after their conduct was found “improper”. The ex-ministers whose resignations were accepted with retrospective effect from March 10 are: Imarti Devi, Govind Singh Rajput, Tulsiram Silawat, Prabhuram Choudhary, Pradyumna Singh Tomar and Mahendra Singh Sisodia. All of them are considered to be hardcore supporters of senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who recently switched camps from the Congress to the BJP.
Giving reasons for his decision, the speaker said that the six MLAs had been given time twice—on March 13 and 14—to appear before him and confirm their resignations, as the resignations were not given in person. However, the MLAs did not appear before him. Meanwhile, they were seen making statements on electronic media. This, he said, was an improper conduct and merited acceptance of their resignations.
The acceptance of six resignations brings down the strength of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly to 222 (two of the total 230 seats were already vacant). The majority mark now thus stands at 112, and the Congress technically has the support of 115 MLAs, including four independents, two BSP and one SP MLAs.
The opposition BJP, claiming that the Congress-led government had lost majority after resignations of 22 MLAs, had pushed for immediate floor test. A delegation of the party met the governor on Saturday to make a demand in this regard. The BJP leaders said that a government in minority does not have the constitutional right to convene budget session or get the governor's address delivered.
The governor, in his letter, mentioned that six ministers were removed from the cabinet on Kamal Nath's recommendations and their resignations accepted by the speaker. "You [Nath] have also mentioned in your letter dated March 13, 2020, that you are ready for the floor test. I have also received a letter from the main opposition BJP about these situations. They have also pointed that the state government is putting unnecessary pressure on the MLAs who have resigned and also on other legislators," the letter read. "Based on the above facts, prima facie, I believe that your government has lost the confidence of the House and it is in minority. This is a very serious issue and therefore as per the constitutional provisions and for protecting the democratic values, it is necessary that on March 16, soon after my address, you seek the trust vote in the Assembly," it added.
-Inputs from PTI
