Scindia lashes out at Kamal Nath's 15-month MP tenure; claims 'He put govt under lockdown'

Lashing out at former MP CM Kamal Nath, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, on Saturday, claimed that Nath was ahead of PM Modi in one aspect, while addressing a membership ceremony at MP's Gwalior. He added that while the Prime Minister put the country under lockdown to save lives, Kamal Nath put the Madhya Pradesh government office (Vallabh Bhavan) under lockdown for 15 months. Scindia has frequently critiqued Nath since leaving the Congress party - leading to the downfall of its state government.

Scindia: 'Kamal Nath ahead of Modiji in one aspect'

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally at 29,75,701 with 1 million tests in 24 hrs

25 Congress MLAs quit, join BJP

Earlier in July, several Congress MLAs quit the party and joined the ruling BJP after Scindia's rebellion paid off- with 14 rebel MLAs being given cabinet portfolios. After the initial 22 MLAs joining in March - Narayan Patel, Sumitra Devi Kasdekar and Pradyumn Singh Lodhi from the Congress resigned from their posts and joined BJP. With 27 seats vacant in the Assembly now, EC will hold elections to 24 seats by Septemeber 2020.

Farooq Abdullah holds meeting of seond batch of NC leaders

Madhya Pradesh cabinet expansion

On July 2, due to the ill-health of Governor Lalji Tandon, acting MP Governor Anandiben Patel was sworn in. Moreover - 28 ministers were sworn in - 20 of the cabinet rank and 8 of the ministers of state rank. 12 of the 22 Congress rebels and Scindia loyalists managed to secure ministerial berths. Apart from these 12, two rebel MLAs -Tulsi Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput had already been sworn in shortly after CM Shivraj Chouhan took oath, while Scindia himself has been elected to the Rajya Sabha.

In the upcoming bypolls, all 14 ministers shall be in the poll fray. To remain in power with a majority on its own, BJP requires to win 9 seats in the upcoming bypolls. However, BJP faces no danger in MP even if it wins only three seats as they have the support of two BSP, one SP, and three Independent legislators.

Congress MLA Narayan Patel resigns from Madhya Pradesh Assembly; 27 seats lie vacant

Congress political crisis

The crisis in the Kamal Nath government started when Congress alleged BJP of poaching 4 MLAs - two of which returned to Kamal Nath's folds. Soon, 22 MLAs including 6 cabinet ministers - loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia - quit the party, reducing the Congress to a minority government with 92 MLAs. The biggest jolt occurred when former Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia formally submitted his resignation to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and then joined the BJP. After Nath stepped down as CM and the Madhya Pradesh Speaker accepted all 22 MLAs' resignation, all of them promptly joined BJP. 

Scindia warns Kamal Nath, says 'Tiger abhi zinda hai' as 12 ex-MLAs take oath as ministers