Madhya Pradesh government staves off crisis as 6 MLAs return to Congress

BHOPAL: The Kamal Nath government has weathered its biggest challenge in 14 months in power. It staved off what CM Nath and his senior Congress colleague Digvijaya Singh dubbed a BJP attempt to topple the government by buying out ruling alliance MLAs.

Six of the 10 ‘missing’ MLAs were back in the Nath fold by Wednesday afternoon. But four are still ‘missing’ and reported to be cooped up in bungalows in Whitefield, Bengaluru. All other ruling alliance MLAs are accounted for, says Congress. “My government has already proven majority four times in floor tests and defeated BJP. They will be defeated again,” Nath said. With two seats vacant, the House strength is 228, putting the majority mark at 115.

Congress has 114 legislators. Even discounting the four missing MLAs, the Nath government is still comfortable with two BSP MLAs, an SP legislator and four independents. BJP, on the other hand, has 107 MLAs.

It was a close call. Madhya Pradesh hasn’t seen such political drama in at least two decades. Sixteen hours of firefighting. Chartered planes criss-crossing like they were shuttles. Scuffles, apparently, at a star hotel in Gurgaon. And political heavyweights from both sides are going toe to toe.

The political storm hit the MP government in the dead of night, around 1am on Wednesday, when reports surfaced of six, seven, eight (no one knew how many) Congress MLAs and allies cooped up at a hotel in Gurgaon. Congr