No Floor Test in MP Even after Fresh Directive by Guv

BHOPAL:
No floor test in Madhya Pradesh Assembly is likely to take place on Tuesday (March 17) even after Governor Lalji Tandon on Monday gave a fresh directive to do so.

After the governor’s directive, chief minister Kamal Nath rushed to meet him at Raj Bhavan, where he assured Tandon to have the numbers on his side. Nath also dared the opposition BJP to table a no-confidence motion if they wanted to test his government’s strength in the house.

Sources said neither the BJP nor the Congress has issued any whip to the MLAs to be present in the Assembly on Tuesday. The fresh letter by the Governor to hold a floor test in the Assembly came amid the political crisis in the state following the resignation by 22 Congress MLAs.

Last week, the governor had directed Nath to seek a floor test, four days after the Congress-led government was pushed to the brink following the resignation of 22 MLAs, who are believed to be loyalists of former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has now joined the BJP.

The Congress MLAs who had been camping in Jaipur amid the political crisis returned to Bhopal on Sunday. Sources say they will remain in Bhopal until the party decides for next course of action and will not be sent back to Jaipur after the house was adjourned till March 26. BJP has also decided to keep its MLAs in Bhopal and its earlier plan to send them to Gurugram was abandoned, sources said. The MLAs have been kept in a hotel in Bhopal.