BHOPAL: Congress’s shock defeat in

may prove to be a blessing in disguise. With BJP MLA G S Damor being elected to

from Ratlam, the power equation in the

assembly has shifted towards Congress.

If Damor resigns as MLA, the strength of the assembly would drop to 229 — at least till the byelection at Jhabua takes place in six months. And, Congress, which has a strength of 115 in the House — including mining minister Prakash Jaiswal, who was elected as an Independent but joined Congress after being inducted in the cabinet — would have absolute majority in the House. It would not require any outside support to prove its numbers.

Former Speaker and BJP leader Sitasaran Sharma and former principal secretary Bhagwandas Israni agreed that in the 229-member House, Congress has absolute majority now. Leader of Opposition

, who has been claiming that the

government’s days are numbered, refused to be swayed. “Let them have majority, we are not in a hurry,” he said.

Sharma, when asked if the House arithmetic would change if Damor exits, told TOI: “Yes, you are right. I had not thought of it. Once Damor resigns, Congress will have absolute majority in the House because majority is calculated in terms of number of MLAs present in the House. With its strength at 229, 115 will be the majority mark, which the Congress has.”

RELIEF FOR NATH SARKAR

‘Cong govt has support of 121 MLAs’

Former Speaker and BJP leader Sitasaran Sharma, however, said that BJP was never pinning its hopes on defection or horse trading to reduce the Kamal Nath government to a minority.

“It’s not withdrawal of support from those supporting Congress government from outside that we hoped to topple the government but unrest within Congress, which is more than apparent. As our leader

also said, we are doing nothing to topple the government. We only said that if the government falls on its own, we should see what can be done in those circumstances. But, it is true that in the changed circumstances after Damor’s exit, Congress will not need outside support,” Sharma added.

Former principal secretary, MP assembly secretariat, Bhagwandas Israni, concurred with Dr Sharma. “Yes, once the House is reduced to 229, Congress will not need outside support. If someone helps them, it’s good but their government will not fall even if all the MLAs supporting the government from outside withdraw support,” he said.

Asked if BJP would consider retaining Damor as MLA, considering this

equation, rather than sending him to Parliament, Bhargava said: “There is no possibility of this kind. They are holding CLP meeting, pledging unity among themselves. Why? They are scared. We don’ need to do anything. Get into any arithmetic. There is so much of discord among top Congress leaders of the state that they will fight sooner or later and whenever a fight breaks out among them, their government will fall.”

Speaker of assembly, N P

, didn’t come over phone to talk on the issue, but Congress media cell in-charge, Shobha Oza said: “Yes, you are right. But why 115? We have been saying that we have support of 121 MLAs and we stick to it. We have proved this four times on the floor of the House and we can do it any time.”

Media coordinator for CM Kamal Nath, Narendra Saluja, said: “Yes, once Damor resigns we shall be in majority on our own but it has to be seen whether he resigns from the assembly or Lok Sabha.” There are three Independent MLAs, two BSP MLAs and an SP legislator supporting the Kamal Nath government, thus taking its strength in the House to

121. On Sunday, the ruling coalition MLAs attended a meeting at CM Nath’s residence and pledged to “unitedly fight” attempts to destabilise the government.