https://t.co/DWSKdYO0jG — Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) 1583822401000

MP govt crisis: Jyotiraditya Scindia resigns from Congress, likely to join BJP

BHOPAL: Jyotiraditya Scindia made it an unhappy Holi for Congress, quitting the party early Tuesday, which triggered 22 MLA resignations and pushed the Kamal Nath government to the brink.Seventeen of the MLAs who have resigned are from the Scindia faction, and two were already incommunicado. Three others joined them, including one brought back from Bengaluru. BJP promptly took the resignations to Speaker NP Prajapati, who said he would take a decision only after legal opinion.If the resignations are accepted, it'll reduce Congress's strength in the 230-member Assembly to 92, and BJP, with 107 MLAs, could stake claim to form the government. There were reports of an SP and a BSP MLA - who have so far supported the Congress government - meeting Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the three-time BJP CM.The crisis hit the Kamal Nath government on the 75th birth anniversary of Congress stalwart Madhavrao Scindia, Jyotiraditya's father. In the morning, Scindia drove himself to PM Narendra Modi's residence, where home minister Amit Shah was already present. After that, Scindia went to Shah's residence and around 1pm, tweeted his resignation letter addressed to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi.Dated March 9, it says: "As you well know, this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year," and goes on to add that he was "unable to work in the party anymore".Scindia's resignation left Congress in shock, but state party leaders rallied behind CM Nath and vowed to battle it out. After a meeting at his house, attended by 98 Congress and alliance MLAs, Nath told reporters that his party's MLAs had been "imprisoned in Bengaluru"."They are in touch with me. If they are independent, why are they being kept in Bengaluru? Bring them to Bhopal. The government is stable. No need to worry," said Nath.Late at night, Congress scrambled its fire-fighting team to Bengaluru— Deepak Babaria, Mukul Wasnik, Harish Rawat and Sajjan Singh Verma were scheduled to fly to the BJP-ruled state to woo back the breakaway MLAs. Congress’s go-to man in Karnataka, D K Shivakumar, had been given charge of the mission, say sources, adding that they still believe 15-16 MLAs may return as they “were not aware they had to follow Scindia into BJP and thought it was only pressure tactics for Rajya Sabha”.There was euphoria in the BJP camp, but the top leadership stuck to the official line that the crisis is “Congress’s internal matter”. Former minister Narottam Mishra— accused by Congress of trying to poach MLAs last week— however said Scindia is a “very big leader” and would be “heartily welcomed in BJP”.While BJP workers speculated about who would be CM — Chouhan, Narendra Singh Tomar and Narottam were the names being discussed— the saffron party went about ensuring it doesn’t get any reverse shocks. Sources said 102 MLAs attended the legislative party meet on Tuesday evening, and five didn’t. At night, 106 BJP MLAs boarded luxury coaches, suitcases in hand. They were driven to Bhopal airport where a 125-seater plane was ready to take them to Haryana. They are expected to be back only on March 16, when the budget session is scheduled to start. There are reports that Scindia could join BJP in Delhi on Wednesday and file his nomination for Rajya Sabha on March 13.Chouhan was supposed to meet Governor Lalji Tandon at 9pm on Tuesday, but the latter couldn’t return from Lucknow and is expected on Wednesday. Sources said all the MLAs who resigned will take BJP membership on March 12 in the presence of Scindia in Bhopal. Congress has expelled Scindia and written to the governor to drop the six ministers who have resigned.It sparked a barrage of insults, many of them centred around his “treachery”. While former PCC chief Arun Yadav called him a “Jaichand”, higher education minister Jitu Patwari tweeted that Scindia’s ancestors had “left Rani Laxmibai to fend for herself in the fight against the British in the 1857 war of independence”.