The Chief Minister appeals to Lalji Tandon to approach Union Home Minister to ensure release of 19 ‘captive’ MLAs in Bengaluru

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Friday requested Governor Lalji Tandon to hold a floor test in the Assembly session that starts from March 16 on a date fixed by the Speaker and use his office with the Union Home Minister for the release of 19 MLAs “held in captivity” in Bengaluru.

In a letter submitted to Mr. Tandon at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal, Mr. Nath said, “We expect enquiry and investigation on the resignation letters submitted by BJP, allegedly of the captive Congress MLAs, is acted upon and completed early.”

The letters of 19 of the 22 rebel MLAs were carried by former BJP Minister Bhupendra Singh from a Bengaluru resort to the Speaker on Tuesday. So far, the Speaker has served notices on 13 of them, asking them to appear before him in person and attest to having resigned of their own accord.

Meanwhile, on the request of Mr. Nath on Tuesday, Mr. Tandon issued an order to remove six rebel Ministers from the Cabinet with immediate effect, said Raj Bhavan sources.

Speaker N.P. Prajapati had asked the six rebel MLAs to appear before him on Friday and attest to their resignations in person, but they failed to appear.

“I had served notices on six MLAs according to the rules, and I waited for three hours today. But, no one came. I will give them another date now,” he said, adding that another set of MLAs had been asked to appear on Saturday.

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In the letter, Mr. Nath wrote that in these disturbing circumstances, the very edifice of democracy was in danger. “Trust of a transparent democratic process seems lost. It merits full investigation and enquiry, so that persons responsible for derailing the democratic institutional process are exposed and punished,” he said.

They would not leave any stone unturned to “ensure the triumph of democracy and the legislative process, to uphold the Constitution and the values enshrined therein,” Mr. Nath assured the State people.

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‘Immoral, unethical acts’

With the subject: “Horse trading of MLAs by the Bharatiya Janata Party”, the letter detailed instances of “immoral, unethical and illegal acts of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh”.

Pointing out the first attempt on the intervening night of March 3 and 4, he said the “the midnight leading to whisking away of MLAs to Bengaluru is in public domain.” He claimed that the Congress foiled the BJP’s attempt at keeping in captivity the MLAs by using both allurement and force.

Explaining the second attempt on March 8, he wrote that the BJP had whisked away the 19 Congress MLAs in three chartered aircraft to Bengaluru. “Since, these 19 MLAs, of whom six are Cabinet Ministers, are incommunicado in a resort arranged by the BJP, nobody is allowed access and/or any sort of communication with them,” he stated.

He described the submission of their resignation by the BJP to the Speaker as an “utter shock” and “most unusual act and conduct”, as none of them were present themselves to tender their resignation. He alleged that this demonstrated the BJP’s complicity in the “entire conspiracy and illegal actions”.

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Mr. Nath said it raised questions of constitutional propriety, legislative procedure and transparency. He contended the submission dehors constitutional and legislative provisions in force relating to the submission and acceptance of resignations of MLAs.

He elaborated the incident on Thursday when Cabinet Ministers Jitu Patwari and Lakhan Singh Yadav, along with rebel MLA Manoj Choudhary’s father, had gone to meet him in Bengaluru, “wherein all three of them have been manhandled by BJP goons as well as Karnataka State Police and illegally detained”.

This was sheer mockery of the rule of law, wherein BJP leaders had hatched a conspiracy of “abducting” the Congress MLAs to destabilise the duly constituted State government. There were various pictures and videos of the said incidents, he wrote.

13 MLAs call off plan

Meanwhile, 13 rebel MLAs, including the six on whom the Speaker had served notices, called off the plan to fly from Bengaluru to Bhopal at the 11th hour.

Although BJP vice president Shivraj Singh Chouhan has maintained that the crisis was Congress government’s internal matter, and distanced the BJP from it, as per flight tickets for two chartered planes perused by The Hindu, of the 19 passengers listed, at least three were from the BJP. These are former Minister Umashankar Gupta, MP Ramakant Bhargava and State party vice president Arvind Singh Bhadoria. The remaining three passengers couldn't be identified.

Furthermore, at the Bhopal airport, two buses carrying BJP leaders, including State party vice president Vijesh Lunawat, were parked outside the terminal. When asked if they had reached to receive Congress MLAs, a BJP leader denied it: “No, we’re here to receive some workers who were returning from a pilgrimage.” The moment the travel plan was cancelled around 5.30 p.m., the buses were the first to leave.

State president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, BJP’s youth wing, Abhilash Pandey was also present at the spot, along with tens of youth workers. When Congressmen arrived at the airport, both the sides raised slogans against each other, prompting the police to clear the area. Bhopal Deputy Inspector General of Police Irshad Wali announced on a microphone Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) had been imposed.

Strikingly, the State police deployed a team of bodybuilder policemen who waited inside SUVs at the terminal. On Thursday, the Congress released videos wherein Karnataka policemen were seen manhandling Mr. Patwari and Mr. Yadav, as they struggled to enter the resort, and later being detained.