Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath was on Monday engaged in trouble shooting after several lawmakers, including ministers, supporting Jyotiraditya Scindia flew to Bengaluru. (PTI file photo)

In a bid to save his government's sinking ship, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has asked his cabinet to resign.

All ministers in the Madhya Pradesh cabinet have submitted their resignation to Kamal Nath. According to sources, Kamal Nath has been authorised by the ministers to reconstitute the cabinet.

Nath had earlier cut short his Delhi visit and rushed to Bhopal where he had called an urgent cabinet meeting at around 10 PM after intense speculation about a possible revolt by a faction led by senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who, along with at least 16 legislators, went incommunicado.

Sources also seem confident that the 16 rebel Congress MLAs who are currently in Bengaluru will return to the party fold.

Speaking about the development, Congress leader PC Sharma said, "All ministers, present at the meeting, have handed over their resignations (to CM Kamal Nath). We have requested him to reconstitute the state cabinet and tackle the situation created by BJP...Sarkar bachi hui hai, poore 5 saal chalegi (the government is safe, it will rule for five years)"

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MP Forest Minister Umang Singhar said that 20 ministers (of total 29) who attended Kamal Nath's meeting in Bhopal have submitted their resignation. "All the 20 ministers who were here (Bhopal), have tendered their resignations. The CM can reconstitute the state cabinet now. All are together. Scindia ji (Jyotiraditya Scindia) also is with Congress," he said.

Earlier in the day, MP CM Kamal Nath had issued a statement condemning the BJP's attempts to destabilise his government.

Kamal Nath has issued a statement saying that the BJP is trying to topple the government with the support of the mafia and he will not let these efforts succeed. He said that the political wheeling and dealing is not interest of the people and that his goal is not to gain power but to serve the people.

"I have devoted my entire public life to serve the public. For me, being in government does not come from a hunger for power, but from the sacred purpose of serving the public. For fifteen years, the BJP had retained power by not serving people, it still wants to destabilize the government of Madhya Pradesh in an unethical manner," he said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath was on Monday engaged in trouble shooting after several lawmakers, including ministers, supporting Jyotiraditya Scindia flew to Bengaluru amid intensified factionalism in the ruling party ahead of Rajya Sabha polls.

As his government appeared to be on a sticky wicket, Kamal Nath, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi to discuss the political situation as well as nominees for the Rajya Sabha election, cut short his visit and returned to Bhopal on Monday night, where he went into a huddle with Digvijay Singh and other senior leaders at his residence, before calling a cabinet meeting at around 10 pm.

The BJP, meanwhile, called a meeting of its MLAs on Tuesday, where sources said

Shivraj Singh Chouhan may be elected as the leader of the legislature party.

The rumblings in the Congress had started last week when it had accused the BJP of trying to topple its government after 10 MLAs of the ruling party and those of its allies travelled to Haryana, though the BJP had denied the charge.

Of them, eight had come back and many of them wanted ministerial berths, according to sources. However, two Congress MLAs have not yet returned.

To add to the woes of the party, Scindia and at least 17 MLAs, believed to be supporting him, suddenly became 'incommunicado' on Monday, leading to intense speculation.

Scindia and Nath have fallen out over the post of the state Congress president, which is currently held by the chief minister.

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