Madhya Pradesh: Congress minister says 'failed attempt of the BJP to destabilise the govt'

Amid the political turbulence in Madhya Pradesh over alleged 'horse-trading', Madhya Pradesh Minister of Commercial Tax Brijendra Singh Rathore on Friday said that a failed attempt is being made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to destabilise the Congress government in the state. He also mentioned that the BJP is "scared" of the way the Congress is working for the development of the state and hence is trying to topple the ruling dispensation.

Speaking to the media Rathore said, "A failed attempt is being made to destabilise the government. But the government will complete its 5-year tenure and will be there in the coming future too. They are afraid of the way we are working for the development of the state. They are trying to bring down our government but I say it with full confidence that we will complete our five-year term and will come to power again," said Rathore.

"The whole country knows the way BJP is kidnapping and keeping MLAs in Bangaluru and other places. They are trying to bring down our government", he added.

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Earlier, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala also accused BJP of abducting 14 Madhya Pradesh MLAs to bring down the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh. He also demanded that an investigation should be done on who arranged the charter plane to fly four Congress MLAs to Bengaluru.

Even as sources told Republic TV that emergency measures are being taken by the Kamal Nath government for the Cabinet expansion, Digvijaya Singh told the media that it would be done after the Budget session of the Assembly. On Thursday night it was reported that out of the four supposedly missing Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh, Hardeep Dang had already handed over his resignation. 

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Madhya Pradesh political turmoil 

On March 5, SP MLA Rajesh Shukla and BSP MLA Sanjeev Kushwaha said that they had not received any offer from the BJP to switch sides and that they are still backing the Kamal Nath government.  On Thursday, top sources of Republic TV had stated that some Congress MLAs from MP had reached Bengaluru and that there was a possibility that 14 MLAs might resign from the government. 

On Monday, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had alleged that BJP leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Narottam Mishra were offering bribes of Rs 25-35 crore to Congress MLAs in order to bring down the Congress government in the state. Congress had won a slender majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in 2018. In the possibility that 14 MLAs resign from their seat, the Madhya Pradesh government will not be able to survive the trust vote. 

In 2018 Assembly results, Congress, which won 114 seats in the 230-member Assembly formed the government with the support of four Independent MLAs and two BSP MLAs and a legislator from the Samajwadi Party (SP). The BJP had secured 109 seats in the state Assembly.

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