Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon on Monday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Kamal Nath directing him to conduct the floor test on Tuesday, March 17.
“Conduct the floor test on 17th March otherwise it will be considered that you actually don’t have the majority in the state assembly,” Tandon stated.
Later in the evening, Kamal Nath reached Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Lalji Tandon.
“I met the Governor, we discussed current political issues. I thanked him for his address in Assembly today. I said we’re ready for things within the constitution, but we can’t go outside its purview. BJP has brought in no-confidence motion. As on today, we have the numbers”, he stated to the media following the meeting.
“If someone says, that we (Congress) don’t have the numbers, they can bring no-confidence motion, mujhe kyun floor test dena?. What problem do the 16 MLAs (rebel Congress MLAs) have? They should come before you and put forth their opinion”, he added.
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Earlier, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that the Kamal Nath government lacks a majority and appealed to Governor Tandon to order a floor test.
“The Chief Minister is running away from the trust vote as he knows that the government lacks a majority. BJP has the majority and we have appealed to the Governor to order the conduct of a floor test at the earliest. He has assured us that he will protect our constitutional rights,” Chouhan had said.
The Madhya Pradesh Assembly, which met on Monday morning for the Budget session was adjourned immediately after the Governor’s address till March 26, in view of coronavirus pandemic.
The BJP MLAs led by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met Governor Lalji Tandon at the Raj Bhawan.
Assuring the BJP legialatures, Governor said, “Appropriate action will be taken. Be assured that no one will violate your rights.”
On Saturday, the Madhya Pradesh Governor had instructed Kamal Nath to face a trust vote after his address to the state assembly. Today, the chief minister wrote to Governor Tandon and asked for a postponement — he said some of his MLAs were being held hostage and felt the vote should only be held when everyone is free.
The development comes amid the political crisis that has engulfed the state after Jyotiraditya Scindia, a prominent face of the Congress, resigned from the party and joined the BJP.
Scindia’s decision to leave Congress was followed by the resignation from 22 party MLAs loyal to him.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking a floor test in the Madhya Pradesh assembly amid the ongoing political crisis in the state. He sought urgent direction from the apex court to the Speaker to conduct a floor test as the latter had postponed it to March 26.
(With ANI inputs)