Bhopal: Amid intense political drama in Madhya Pradesh, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Digvijaya Singh said all was well in the Kamal Nath-led government and it would complete its full term.
Singh, who reached Bhopal on Friday after spending the last few days in the national capital, said he returned to the state on the directive of the chief minister. Sources said the Congress leadership has all party MLA and allies to stay put in the capital for the next few days.
When asked if the current dispensation, which has a thin majority in the Assembly, would be able to complete its term, Singh said, “Initially, the BJP used to say this government would not last for three months, then it said ‘not more than six months’. See how we have successfully run the government for over a year.”
The Congress veteran said a Cabinet expansion should take place after the budget session of the Assembly. He also reiterated his claims of BJP indulging in horse-trading of MLAs to dislodge the government and said he would never level any allegations without evidence.
However, when told that a number of MLAs, who were/are missing ever since the crisis broke out in the state, have refuted claims of being offered any money by the saffron camp, Singh lost his cool, stating that those legislators (BSP’s Sanjeev Singh Kushwaha and SP’s Rajesh Shukla) may not have been present at the Gurugram hotel in Haryana where some of their colleagues were taken away from the central Indian state.
On Wednesday, six ruling camp MLAs, including Kushwaha and Shukla, who were reportedly taken to a the Gurugram hotel, had come back to state with senior Congress ministers.
Singh has been claiming for the last few days that the BJP is trying to buy MLAs from the ruling camp to bring down the government and even taking them out of the state in chartered planes to national capital and other places.
Meanwhile, senior minister Govind Singh said Kamal Nath was a veteran leader and would not take any step (cabinet expansion) under any pressure.
On Thursday, one of the Congress MLAs Hardeep Singh Dang, who is reportedly staying at a hotel in Bengaluru along with three other colleagues and has remained ‘untraceable’ since Tuesday night, resigned from the post of member of Assembly.
Dang, who represented Mandsaur's Suwasra constituency in the Assembly, is reported to have been disgruntled with the party leadership after he was not offered a senior position or a ministerial berth.
The Congress leadership claimed the resignation letter was a fake one. Nath held a late-night meeting senior ministers at the CM’s House. BJP MLAs Narayan Tripathi and Sanjay Pathak also reportedly met the CM around the same time.
Later, Tripathi said he has resigned from BJP, but had met the chief minister only to discuss developmental work in his constituency.
However, Pathak said that he has not met the CM and had faith in the saffron party. He also refuted reports of meeting with any senior leader of the Congress, adding there was a threat to his life over the ongoing political scenario. He said his brother-in-law is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad and he is busy with the same.
The developments bolstered rumours that both the Congress and BJP have started making efforts to reach out to MLAs of each other’s camps ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha election that is scheduled to take place on March 22.
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