Published 18:07 IST, March 10th 2020
Madhavrao then, Jyotiraditya now - Scindia dumps Congress in a repeat of history
A mere coincidence or Scindia's effort to repeat history, Mahavrao Scindia had also rebelled against the Congress in 1996 when he was denied the ticket 4 times
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"This is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year," wrote Jyotiraditya Scindia as he tendered his resignation to interim party President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday. Scindia's resignation came on the 75th birth anniversary of his late father and former Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia. A mere coincidence or Scindia's effort to repeat history, Mahavrao Scindia had also rebelled against the Congress in 1996 when he was denied the ticket for four times.
Back in 1996, Madhavrao Scindia was conveniently sidelined by the Congress despite 4 back to back victories leading him to quit the party. After quitting the age-old party, Scindia went on to form the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress and also defeat his former party. Similar to Madhavrao Scindia's rebellion in 1996, Jyotiraditya Scindia is expected to join Opposition BJP by Tuesday evening, as per Republic sources.
With 22 MLAs from the pro-Scindia faction already resigning and six more expected to resign from the Congress by evening, the majority numbers are set to falter, the numbers of the Kamal Nath-led government pose a fatal threat to the maintainability of their government.
Scindia resigns from Congress
After two days of heavy political drama, the former Guna MP formally submitted his resignation to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, after all talks of mediation failed. Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the party soon after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence along with former BJP party chief Amit Shah.
Moreover, 22 MLAs who support him have tendered their resignation from their Bengaluru resorts - where they have been holed up for the past few days. Scindia has been miffed about not being elected CM and not being elected as Madhya Pradesh Congress chief - both of which were given to Nath.
Madhya Pradesh political crisis
The crisis in the Kamal Nath government started when Congress alleged BJP of poaching 4 MLAs - Surendra Singh Shera, Bisahulal Singh, Hardeep Singh Dang, and Raghuraj Kansana when they were flown to Bengaluru. While two of them have returned to Kamal Nath's folds, 18 MLAs including 6 cabinet ministers - loyal to Scindia flew to Bengaluru on Monday.
Kamal Nath dissolved his cabinet, making 20 ministers resign on Monday night at an apparent cabinet rejig attempt. However, it failed and all 6 rebel cabinet ministers, who are loyal to Scindia, have been expelled.
18:07 IST, March 10th 2020