In petition to Assembly Speaker, two Congress MLAs contend the rebels were hobnobbing with the BJP to bring down government, orchestrating defections

Two Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh have moved a petition before the Vidhan Sabha Speaker seeking disqualification of six rebel Ministers, supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia who moved to Bengaluru, for anti-party activities. Speaker N.P. Prajapati is yet to take a decision.

The petitioners, Govind Singh and Lakhan Singh Yadav, contended that the “grotesque conduct” of the Ministers in cahoots with the BJP to devise defections from within the State Congress legislature party was a “breach and abandonment” of the party discipline.

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They requested the Speaker to disqualify Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Imarti Devi, Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Govind Singh Rajput, Prabhuram Choudhary and Tulsiram Silawat for violating the the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, whose paragraph 2(1)(a) prescribes disqualification from the House if a member voluntarily gives up membership of a political party.

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Flying away to Bengaluru during political distress in the State, remaining in constant touch with BJP members there, refusing to comply with a notice served on them by State party chief to return to Bhopal in the light of the upcoming Rajya Sabha election and blocking means of communication by keeping phones switched off, all showed they had voluntarily given up the party membership, the petitioners claimed.

State Congress media incharge Shobha Oza said, “Their disqualification is imminent, given their praise for Mr. Scindia, who joined the BJP, openly in videos released from Bengaluru. They have ignored party instructions.”

‘Political opportunism’

Stating that political propriety and morality was expected of the Ministers as they had won the election on Congress ticket, the petitioners claimed they had associated themselves with the BJP for “sheer personal gains” and “political opportunism” and orchestrated defections within the Congress in a bid to bring down the coalition government.

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They wrote that attempts at reaching out to them by the Congress, both at the State and the national levels, proved futile, and moreover they “chose to stay away” from “crucial party meetings” and “are hobnobbing with the BJP, whose conducts and actions lead to the unquestionable conclusion that they have voluntarily given up the membership of the INC.”

The petitioners further contended the respondents had been in Karnataka for two days, and been meeting BJP MLAs and MPs, and at the BJP’s insistence they stayed back at the hotel in Bengaluru.

The six Ministers belong to a group of 22 rebel MLAs who, pledging allegiance to Mr. Scindia, submitted their resignations as legislators on Wednesday.