Ahead of Madhya Pradesh trust vote, Congress MLAs return to Bhopal from Jaipur

A day ahead of the floor test in Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Congress MLAs and Independents who were stationed at a resort in Jaipur arrived in Bhopal on Sunday (March 15). The MLAs were seen flashing victory signs at the airport and some of them claimed that the Congress government would prove majority in the floor test.

Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat, who was accompanying the MLAs, told the media that Chief Minister Kamal Nath will win the trust vote on the floor of Assembly on Monday (March 16). He also added that the party leaders were in touch with rebel MLAs. “We are ready for the floor test and we are confident of winning it. We are not nervous, BJP is. Those (rebel) MLAs are also in touch with us,” he said.

On Saturday (March 14), Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon had asked CM Kamal Nath to face a floor test on Monday, the first day of the budget session of the Assembly.

"Under Article 174 and 175(2) of the Constitution, I am empowered to direct that MP Assembly session will begin on March 16 at 11 am with my address. Soon after that, the only work to be done is voting on trust vote," Governor Tandon said in the letter.

Tandon passed the order hours after CM Kamal Nath wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging the latter ensure the "release" of 22 Congress MLAs held "captive" in Bengaluru.

“Please use your power as Union home minister so that 22 Congress MLAs held captive can safely reach Madhya Pradesh and participate in the Assembly session beginning from March 16 without any allurement and fear," Kamal Nath wrote in the four-page letter.

A whip has also been issued by Madhya Pradesh Congress asking all its MLAs to be present in the Assembly from March 16 to April 13 during the session and vote in favour of the government during the floor test.

The political turmoil in Madhya Pradesh started after 22 Congress MLAs, loyalists of Jyotiraditya Scindia who quit the Congress to join the BJP, resigned from the Assembly, reducing the 15-month-old CM Kamal Nath's government to a minority in the Assembly.