Congress gets down to diffuse MP crisis

Chief Minister Kamal Nath cancelled all his outstation engagements on Friday to focus on troubleshooting as his government and party weathered the crisis caused by the poaching drama played out over the past three days.

Bhopal March 7 Chief Minister Kamal Nath cancelled all his outstation engagements on Friday to focus on troubleshooting as his government and party weathered the crisis caused by the poaching drama played out over the past three days.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh has met Kamal Nath to take stock of the situation. Party sources said the two leaders sought to evolve a strategy to deal with the resentment among party legislators.

Senior Congress leader Jyotiradtya Scindia has been indifferent to the happenings for some time now. However, he issued a statement saying the party would deal with the situation without any problem.

Kamal Nath summoned all the MLAs to Bhopal and instructed them not to leave the capital till further notice. A cabinet meeting was also held at the Chief Minister's residence. BSP MLA Rambai was also present in the meeting.

Insiders said the possible expansion of the ministry was also discussed. Rambai, who has been suspended by her party, could be included in the ministry, sources said.

Kamal Nath said the Congress and its workers believe in politics of principles and service. Its leaders are not for sale, he said.

The BJP has also responded to the situation by holding a meeting in Delhi at the residence of Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday evening. Some BJP leaders dubbed it as a revival of the Operation Lotus that was all but abandoned as a failure. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Narottam Mishra, Prahlad Patel, Dharmendra Pradhan and Gopal Bhargava attended the meeting.

In another development, BJP MLA from Vijayaraghavgarh Sanjay Pathak who was spotted emerging from the Chief Minister's residence on Thursday around midnight. "I may be assassinated politically. I am in BJP and will remain there," said Pathak, who was in Congress earlier.

Of the four MLAs missing since Wednesday, three belonging to the Congress are expected to reach Bhopal by Saturday morning.

Here is a recap of the three-day drama that kept the state in the national focus over alleged horse trading attempts by the BJP leaders.

March 3: Digvijaya Singh tweets to accuse BJP of horse trading and said that 10 Congress MLAs were taken to Delhi. Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh reached Delhi in the evening. The Congress claimed late in the night that the BJP held six Congress, two BSP and an independent MLA hostage at the ITC Maratha Hotel in Gurgaon. Ministers Jeetu Patwari and Jayawardhan Singh were sent to Delhi from Bhopal.

March 4: Rajesh Shukla (Bablu) of SP, Sanjeev Singh Kushwaha of BSP, Aindal Singh Kansana of Congress, Ranveer Jatav, Kamlesh Jatav and Ram Bai (expelled from BSP) reached Bhopal. Bisahulal , Hardeep Singh Dung, Raghuraj Kansana and Independent Surendra Singh Shera remained missing and were subsequently traced in Bengaluru.

March 5: Congress MLA Hardeep Singh Dung sends his resignation to the Speaker. The son of another missing Congress MLA, Bisahulal Singh, lodged a report of his disappearance at TT Nagar police station in Bhopal. The Congress denied having received the resignation. It was later described as a statement listing his grievances.

March 6: Kamal Nath presides over a cabinet meeting, summons all MLAs to Bhopal. Meeting of BJP leaders continues at Tomar's house in Delhi.

Rambai from Patharia seat of Damoh has long expressed his desire for the post of minister from public forums.

Surendra Singh Shera, who was missing for three days, spoke to Kamal Nath on Friday. CM's media officer Syed Zafar confirmed it. He said Shera would arrive on Saturday while Shera said he went to Bangalore for daughter's treatment.

Another independent MLA, Pradeep Jaiswal, said, "I have a 20-year relationship with Chief Minister Kamal Nath. I will stand by him at every difficult moment."

How they stack up:

A look at Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly

Total Seats: 230

Current strength: 228

Number of House except Assembly Speaker: 227 (Two seats vacant due to the demise of BJP and Congress MLAs)

Majority figure: 114

Congress will become dependent on allies if Dung's resignation is accepted.

Party position

Congress 112

BJP 107

BSP 02 *

SP 01

Independents 04

* BSP MLA Rambai suspended from party

( With inputs from IANS )