Source : Internet
In a battle for supremacy between Mama and Maharaj, Kamalnath got a taste of his own medicine when he was unceremoniously toppled by Jyotiraditya Scindia when he turned a turncoat and changed sides walking into BJP. Many political watchers were taken to a time 4 decades back when Nath, a close confidante of Sanjay Gandhi, a Doon boy joined the youth Congress in the 1970s. It was he and a motley crew that led a toppling operation of the Janata party say Op eds. Scindia in the current context had turned desparate after a loss in LS polls and other internal matters that bothered him.
Around 15 months after taking office, the trigger of Kamalnath’s downfall was Jyotiraditya M. Scindia leaving the Congress on 11 March, taking with him 22 MLAs. In a 230-member assembly, Congress had won 114 seats, the BSP two and SP one. The BJP has 107 MLAs.
As things for Kamal Nath as CM reached a perpetual dead end leading to his resignation, in a presser he was clear that constantly there was an attempt to plot against him from the BJP. His government fell short of the majority mark. The Supreme Court had ordered the Congress-led state government to prove its majority in the assembly.
Speaker N.P. Prajapati accepted the resignation of rebel MLAs. Nath met governor Lalji Tandon and submitted his resignation.
In his resignation, Nath said: “In my 40-year-long public life, I have always done politics of purity and valued democratic norms, and given priority to it.”
As the ongoing political crisis snowballed, the Congress and the BJP took to resort politics in Madhya Pradesh. Both decided to move their legislators outside of the state and lodge them in luxury hotels.
BJP hurried its MLAs to a luxury hotel in Gurugram. Congress legislators went from Bhopal to Jaipur.
Bengaluru saw some action as some rebel legislators were unsucessfully pacified by a group of lawmakers.
The BJP continued to face the charge of holding hostage at least eight Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh at a luxury hotel in Gurugram’s Manesar and Bengaluru. After the government toppled the rebels now plan to return.
In the runup to the vote for confidence in the Assembly, political parties namely the Congress and the BJP had continued to calculate their moves around the prevailing political crisis in Madhya Pradesh. Both parties returned to the drawing board to find their strategies for the coming days. Having been in power since Deember 2018, the government led by Kamal Nath plunged deep into crisis seeing a rebellion by a section of Congress MLAs . The BJP had officially pushed for a floor test, which had been given the green signal by the Governor of the state, Lalji Tandon.
Reportedly the Congress government had been surviving on a wafer-thin majority in the 228-member assembly. Even before the cracks appeared the Congress was placed at 114.
Scindia’s exit is being seen as a big jolt to the Congress given, he was a very close confidante of the Gandhi’s. Reports suggested Jyotiraditya Scindia felt he was sidelined in Congress despite his work to bring the party back in power after toppling the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
BJP had flown down its group of 107 MLAs to Gurugram. The MLAs were lodged at a luxury hotel in Gurugram. Congress flew down its remaining 92 MLAs to Jaipur and lodged them at a luxury resort to stop any bids of poaching.
Journalist Barkha Dutt in one of her shows for the digital venture MoJo points out that for Jyotiraditya Scindia this is a gharwapsi of sorts returning to the BJPin the presence of the likes of JP Nadda, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. She says that one will now have to wait and watch the next move of the younger turks like Sachin Pilot, Deepender Hooda and Milind Dero. As Sonia Gandhi mulls giving up the post of interim President, questions still remain whether she will let a non Gandhi to lead charge. As Leader of Opposition, Adhir Chaudhary lacks a national profile. Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari clearly are not a choice that fits the liking of the Gandhis as leader of Opposition says Barkha. Jyotiraditya was called an opportunist. He was not made head of the state of the Congress.
Next predictions are that Rajasthan could be the next in line, given the cold relations that Sachin Pilot shares with Ashok Gehlot. Especially the open criticism of dealing with the Pehlu Khan and Kota hospital deaths cases. Meanwhile in Haryana, one needed a head like Deepender Hooda, but things went againsthim for his speaking up against abrogation of Article 370.
This is the second time in Madhya Pradesh after 53 years when a member of the Scindia family has tried to destabilize the Congress government. Before Jyotiraditya Scindia, in 1967 his grandmother late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia had done the same with the government of the then Pandit Dwarka Prasad Mishra. The Jana Sangh was behind the scenes at that time, today the BJP is the ‘clone’ of the Jana Sangh, say experts.
There are many MLAs in BJP as well who are upset with the inclusion of Jyotiraditya Scindia. There are many MLAs in BJP who are upset with Jyotiraditya Scindia’s entry into BJP. Many BJP leaders, including Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomarfeelirked say reports.
Vasundhara Raje, Yashodhara Raje, Dhyanendra Singh and Maya Singh are active in the BJP from the palace. Jyotiraditya Scindia has not only become a member of the BJP but also directly become a member of the Rajya Sabha (formal elections are yet to happen).
Efforts to destabilize the Kamal Nath government had been going on for a whole year, but due to Kamal Nath’s vigilance, every BJP plan was being thwarted. Now Jyotiraditya Scindia’s rebellion has changed the situation.
Tomar, considered close and trusted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, was given the responsibility of BJP’s strategy in Madhya Pradesh a few days ago. Tomar has held the responsibility from Madhya Pradesh BJP President to the cabinet level minister in the state, is a strong leader of BJP in Madhya Pradesh. The pair of Shivraj and Tomar, popularly known as ‘Jai and Veeru’ in the state, won 165 seats in 2013 and won the BJP for the third time.
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