Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Friday wrote a letter to the governor saying he was willing to take a foor test at the upcoming Assembly session in the midst of political crisis in the state triggered by the resignation of 22 rebel Congress MLAs three days ago.
"The 22 Cong MLAs are being held captive," said Kamal Nath after meeting Governor Lalji Tandon in Bhopal and submitting a letter pointing out "immoral, unethical and illegal" acts of the BJP.
Nath, whose government is teetering on the brink of a collapse following the rebellion, reached Raj Bhavan late Friday morning to meet Tandon, who arrived in Bhopal on Thursday night from Lucknow.
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The Madhya Pradesh CM reiterated the party's stance that 19 of the rebel Congress MLAs have been held "captive" by the BJP in a resort in Bengaluru, a charge denied by the opposition party.
In his letter, Nath expressed shock at the "most unusual act" by BJP leaders to submit to the Assembly Speaker the resignation of the 19 MLAs, including six cabinet ministers, on March 10. He said the physical absence of the lawmakers to handover their regisnation letters "demonstrates the complicity of BJP leaders in the entire conpiracy and illegal actions."
He urged an investigation to be conducted into the resignation of the MLAs.
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He alleged that when two cabinet ministers along with the father of one of the rebel lawmakers went to meet the MLAs in the Bengaluru resort, they were manhandled by BJP "goons" and Karnataka police and later detained as well.
"As a responsible leader of Indian National Congress, I invite and would welcome a floor test of my government in the forthcoming session of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly already notified from 16th March, 2020, on a date fixed by the Speaker," he said.
The CM also urged the Governor to communicate with Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure release of the MLAs.
Nath's meeting with the governor comes amid unconfirmed reports that six ministers, said to be close to former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, will be coming to Bhopal from Bengaluru to hand over their resignation letters in person to the Assembly speaker.
Scindia joined the BJP on Wednesday, a day after quitting the Congress.
