Amid the midnight drama, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath maintained that, 'things are under control. There is nothing like that.' (Photo Credit: File photo)
New Delhi:
In a massive late-night development that can decide the fate of Kamal Nath government, the Congress has alleged that eight Madhya Pradesh MLAs were being ‘held hostage’ by the BJP at a five-star resort in Haryana’s Manesar. The Congress leaders allege that the BJP is running ‘Operation Lotus’ in Madhya Pradesh to topple the Kamal Nath government. Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh dashed to Manesar to ‘rescue’ the lawmakers. News Nation has learnt that Singh was not allowed to meet the MLAs. In fact, there was a scuffle between Singh and BJP’s Narottam Mishra at the entrance of the resort.
Apart from the resort’s security, the CISF jawans were also deployed as part of elaborate arrangement. Around 3 am, Madhya Pradesh’s Education Minister Jitu Patwari and Housing Minister Jaivardhan Singh also reached the resort and ‘managed’ to bring BSP’s expelled MLA Rambai along with them. Bisahulal Sahu was another MLA who is back in the Kamal Nath camp.
#WATCH Haryana: Madhya Pradesh Ministers&Congress leaders Jitu Patwari&Jaivardhan Singh leave from ITC Resort in Gurugram's Manesar,taking suspended BSP MLA Ramabai with them.8 MLAs from MP are reportedly being held against their will by BJP at the hotel,Ramabai being one of them pic.twitter.com/VUivVHsaA4
— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2020
“When we got to know, Jitu Patwari and Jaivardhan Singh went there. People with whom our contact was established were ready to come back to us. We were able to get in touch with Bisahulal Singh and Ramabai. Ramabai came back, even when BJP tried to stop her,” Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The former Chief Minister also alleged that BJP’s Rampal Singh, Narottam Mishra, Arvind Bhadauria, Sanjay Pathak were going to give the MLAs huge sum of money. “Had there been a raid, they would have been caught...We think 10-11 MLAs were there, only 4 are still with them now, they will also come back to us,” Singh asserted.
The magic figure in the 231-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly is 115. The ruling Congress has 114 MLAs, while the BJP has 107 MLAs. Hence, these eight lawmakers can completely change situation in Madhya Pradesh. At present, Madhya Pradesh Assembly has 228 members; two seats were vacated after death of respective lawmakers. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath told PTI: "Things are under control. There is nothing like that. The MLAs will come back". Attacking the Congress for making false accusations, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Congress veteran was engaging in sensationalism. BJP vice-president and MLA Rameshwar Sharma told PTI that people don’t take the Congress veteran seriously.
(With PTI inputs)
