In a breather for the distorted Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pardesh, Speaker NP Prajapati on Monday adjourned the state assembly till March 26 without holding the floor test. The announcement was made shortly after Governor Lalji Tandon left the assembly proceedings following an uproar over the floor test demand.
Madhya Pradesh BJP filed a plea in the Supreme Court on Monday, March 16 seeking an order to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to hold a floor test within 48 hours, as per the direction issued by Governor Lalji Tandon.
The petition contended that despite the clear-cut directions issued by the Governor to Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek a vote of confidence and prove his majority on the floor of the house on March 16, after the address by the Governor was over, the item for seeking the confidence vote has not been included in the business to be transacted on the floor of the House.
Uproar in the assembly
The decision was reached after Minister for parliamentary affairs Govind Singh raised the issue of the novel coronavirus threat and mentioned the advisory notified by the Centre.
During his brief address in the assembly, Lalji Tandon appealed to everyone to "uphold the law so that the dignity of Madhya Pradesh remains protected". A commotion-like situation had arisen in the House when the BJP MLAs demanded that the floor test should be held immediately.
Among all those present in the assembly were CM Kamal Nath, BJP vice president and MLA Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava.
Kamal Nath had requested the Governor to postpone the floor test
On the brink of losing power in the state, Kamal Nath wrote a letter to the governor just before the start of the assembly session trying to convince him to not hold the floor test today.
In his letter, Kamal Nath said that a floor test in such an unpropitious situation will not be constitutional as some of his MLAs are being held hostage in Karnataka. He added that a floor test can be conducted when all the MLAs are free from coercion and not under any pressure.
Earlier, a BJP delegation led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a meeting with the Governor requesting him to ask Kamal Nath to prove the majority in the House on or before March 16. Soon after, Lalji Tandon issued a fresh trust vote directive to Kamal Nath.
In a major blow to the Congress, as many as 22 MLAs had tendered their resignation including senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, pushing its government on the verge of collapse in Madhya Pradesh.
