‘We were also ready to make Jyotiraditya Scindia the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief or Deputy Chief Minister. But he seem to have made up his mind’

Breaking his silence on the current political crisis in Madhya Pradesh with former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 MLAs quitting the Congress, former Chief Minister and senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said the Kamal Nath government has the numbers. Excerpts from an interview he gave to The Hindu over phone.

Sir, should not Chief Minister Kamal Nath now resign because numbers don't seem to be with him after the resignation of the MLAs?

Digvijaya Singh: No, why should he resign when he has the numbers and the resignations of the MLAs have not been accepted yet. They are still MLAs [Members of the Legislative Assembly]

Read: Accompanied by Shah, Jyotiraditya Scindia meets Modi; quits Congress

But where are the numbers with 20 or so MLAs resigning?

You leave that to us. When the floor test happens, you will see a surprise.

So when will the floor test happen?

First a process has to take place. The Speaker will verify the resignations of all the 22 MLAs and then order a floor test.

But why did it come to this that Mr. Scindia had to resign? Why did this happen?

First of all, he was very disappointed and frustrated after his defeat in the Lok Sabha election from his Guna seat. He never expected it. What I have been told is that he has been in touch with top BJP leaders like Amit Shah for a few months now. On many other occasions he had supported the BJP like their decision on Article 370 [removing special status to Jammu and Kashmir], he never took a firm stand against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and didn’t speak against the National Register of Citizens or the National Population Register.

But there was some opposition from State BJP leaders and these leaders felt that they can break the Congress government without Scindia joining. They told Amit Shah that they can do this on their own but it didn’t materialise because we thwarted their attempt.

It is only after they failed that Amit Shah decided on Scindiaji and his supporters. So 17 Congress MLAs, who were Scindiaji’s supporters, were helped by BJP leaders Arvind Bhadoria and Ashutosh Tiwari to go to Bengaluru.

Read: Political vacuum in Congress after Scindia’s exit

If you were aware of all this, why didn't you reach out to Mr. Scindia?

Of course, we did. Soon after the abortive attempt to take away our MLAs took place, I told him that such a thing is happening. Thereafter Scindiaji was here for a wedding. I wanted to meet him but he said he was out. He had stopped taking my calls.

Last Sunday, Kamal Nathji was to meet him in Delhi but his phone was switched off. We were told that he had fever and had got swine flu and therefore cannot speak. I then texted him to wish speedy recovery.

But the charge is that Congress leadership, Sonia Gandhi as well Rahul, ignored his claim to head Madhya Pradesh Congress. And you and Kamal Nath got together to ignore him and his supporters!

That's rubbish. There was no question of not offering Rajya Sabha seat. We were also ready to make him the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief or Deputy Chief Minister. But he seem to have made up his mind.

Where does Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit leave the Congress | The Hindu In Focus Podcast