NEW DELHI: The Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh was seen scrambling to secure its MLAs after eight members of its alliance were cooped inside a Manesar hotel in Haryana's Gurugram apparently at the behest of the BJP.Three to four of these MLAs are believed to be from the Congress who were shifted to Bengaluru by the BJP on early hours of Thursday.The Congress came to power in the state in December 2018 by securing 114 seats in the 230-seat assembly. The strength of the house has since then been reduced to 228 after the death of two MLAs. The Congress formed the government with the support of 121 MLAs, which included four independent candidates, 2 BSP and 1 SP candidate.If the speculations are right and BJP manages to poach all these eight MLAs then the Congress alliance will fall short of the majority mark by two seats (121-8=113). A party needs to secure 115 seats in the reduced 228-seat assembly.The Congress with 114 seats needs only one more MLA to reach the half-way mark. However, if the Congress loses all four of its MLAs then its tally would be reduced to 110 — five short of the majority mark.The opposition has yet not passed a no-confidence motion against the Kaman Nath government. It is to be seen if the BJP manages to keep the 'rebel' MLAs in its fold till then.On the other hand, the BJP, with 107 seats, is short of eight MLAs. If the 'rebel' MLAs shift their loyalties then the saffron party will be in comfortable a position to stake claim to the government in Madhya Pradesh. (107+8=115 seats).However, a smooth ride for the BJP is only possible if it manages to keep its flock together. In the past, there have been attempts by the Congress party to lure some of the BJP MLAs into its fold.There are also reports that the Congress has two BJP MLAs, thus further denting the chances of the BJP to wrest power from the Congress.