Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has alleged that four MLAs supporting the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh were still being held by the BJP at a resort in Gurugram early on Wednesday.
The incident has raised fears in the Congress that the BJP is attempting to topple Kamal Nath’s government, which came to power in November 2018. Kamal Nath’s government has a wafer-thin majority in Madhya Pradesh, with the support of the BSP, Samajwadi Party and independent legislators.
Digvijaya was quoted by ANI as saying,”We think 10-11 MLAs were there [in the resort]; only four are still with them now, they will also come back to us.”
Digvijaya alleged that BJP leaders Rampal Singh, Narottam Mishra, Arvind Bhadauria and Sanjay Pathak were going to give the MLAs money to switch sides.
Early on Wednesday, two ministers in the Madhya Pradesh government—Jitu Patwari and Jaivardhan Singh—were recorded leaving from the ITC resort in Gurugram, taking with them Ramabhai, a suspended BSP MLA, who had been taken to the resort.
Digvijaya told ANI, “People with whom our contact was established were ready to come back to us. We were able to get in touch with [Congress MLA] Bisahulal Singh and Ramabhai. Ramabhai came back, even when BJP tried to stop her.”
On Tuesday night, Digvijaya and Patwari claimed eight ruling coalition MLAs were taken to Gurugram in a bid to topple the Kamal Nath government.
“Senior BJP leaders including former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former ministers Narottam Mishra, Bhupendra Singh and Rampal Singh among others have forcibly taken eight MLAs to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspiracy,” Patwari told PTI.
“The MLAs told us that they were forcibly confined by the BJP leaders,” he alleged.
According to the Congress sources, among the eight MLAs who have been taken to Haryana, four are from the Congress, one is an independent legislator while the rest of them are from the BSP and the SP.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath told PTI, “Things are under control… The MLAs will come back.”
The BJP has dismissed the allegations, claiming Digvijaya was attempting to ensure his re-nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh scheduled on March 26.