Madhya Pradesh floor test: Kamal Nath may quit as CM before SC-ordered trust vote

Ahead of the Supreme Court-ordered trust vote, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath may quit at a press conference he is scheduled to address at 12 pm.

According to the sources, the Congress leadership has asked Kamal Nath to resign instead of testing his government's strength in the Assembly. After the resignations of 22 MLAs who sided with Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress party got a breather as the Assembly was adjourned till March 26 in view of the coronavirus threat.

However, the BJP moved the Supreme Court, seeking immediate trust vote and the top court ruled that the "state of uncertainty" should be effectively resolved and ordered a floor test by 5 pm on Friday. When asked whether Kamal Nath would tender his resignation, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who was tasked to convince the rebel MLAs, said - "Wait for it".

How the "game of thrones" unfolded in Madhya Pradesh

Earlier this month, 22 Congress MLAs, including six ministers who are Scindia loyalist, had tendered their resignations after Scindia quit the party and joined hands with the BJP. While the Speaker NP Prajapati accepted resignations of 6 ministers, he asked the remaining lawmakers to appear before him and confirm that they want to resign.

The Congress party has been claiming that their MLAs were being held captive at a Karnataka resort by the BJP, even as they released videos countering the party's claim and extending their support to "Maharaj", what they call Jyotiraditya. Digvijay Singh claimed that few of the MLAs contacted him and said that their phones have been snatched.

On Thursday, the Supreme court had asked the Speaker to talk to them via video-conferencing to confirm their resignations. Later in the day, the Speaker accepted the resignations of the remaining 16 rebel legislators, a move that made the collapse of 15-month-old Kamal Nath government almost certain.

Following the acceptance of resignations of the dissenting MLAs, the Congress party's strength in the ASsembly came down to 92. With the Assembly strength of 206, the Congress is way short of the majority mark of 104. The BJP has 107 lawmakers in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly and with Kamal Nath's resignation, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is likely to return to the power in the state.