2020 Madhya Pradesh political crisis
On 10 March 2020, when Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from Indian National Congress,[1] his supporter 22 MLAs also resigned. They sent their resignations by email to the Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Narmada Prasad Prajapati and Governor Lalji Tandon from the hotel of Bengaluru.
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| Date | 5–20 March 2020 |
|---|---|
| Location | Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Also known as | 2020 Madhya Pradesh government formation |
| Type | Parliamentary crisis and government formation |
| Cause | Resignation of Indian National Congress MLAs |
| Participants | Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Indian National Congress (INC) Other political parties and Independents |
| Outcome | Fall of the Kamal Nath government and Formation of National Democratic Alliance government. |
Background
After the 2018 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, no party got majority although Indian National Congress was the single largest party in the assembly. Indian National Congress formed the government with the help of one BSP MLA and one SP MLA and four independent MLAs.
However, on 5th March 2020, 10 MLAs, 6 Congress members, 2 BSP members 1 SP member and 1 Independent, flew to Delhi overnight, without any prior plans. However 6 MLAs initially returned. The remaining 4 MLAs then flew to Bengaluru, where congress MLA Hardeep Dang resigned. The remaining three MLAs returned soon, however they denied the claims made by Congress leaders that they were a part of horse-trading.
On 10 March 2020, Senior leader of INC, Jyotiraditya Scindia suddenly went to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Amit Shah, Home Minister of India. After meeting them, at around 11:30 am, he resigned from the Congress party, saying that he felt very guilty while working for Congress.[2]
Next day, at around 3:00 pm, he joined Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Jagat Prakash Nadda, National President of Bharatiya Janata Party.
After joining the party, he slammed Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath and other Congress leaders for not giving the importance in the party. Throughout his press conference, he didn't mention the names of the Nehru-Gandhi Family. After joining the party, he was given the ticket of Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh by Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Both the parties have reached Supreme Court to ask for a floor test in Madhya Pradesh and the Supreme Court said that the floor test in Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly should be done on 20 March 2020 by 5:00 pm. On 20 March 2020, at around 12:00 pm, during a press conference, Chief Minister Kamal Nath resigned as CM. After that, on 23 March 2020, Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as CM.
List of Members who Resigned
| S.No | Constituency | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Surkhi | Govind Singh Rajput Cabinet Minister |
Indian National Congress | |
| 2. | Dabra | Imarti Devi Cabinet Minister | ||
| 3. | Sanwer | Tulsi Ram Silawat Cabinet Minister | ||
| 4. | Bamori | Mahendra Singh Sisodia Cabinet Minister | ||
| 5. | Sanchi | Prabhuram Choudhary Cabinet Minister | ||
| 6. | Gwalior | Pradhumn Singh Tomar Cabinet Minister | ||
| 7. | Ashok Nagar | Jaipal Singh Jajji | ||
| 8. | Karera | Jasvant Jatav | ||
| 9. | Suwasra | Hardeep Singh Dang | ||
| 10. | Gohad | Ranvir Jatav | ||
| 11. | Gwalior East | Munnalal Goyal | ||
| 12. | Anuppur | Bisahu Lal Singh | ||
| 13. | Morena | Raghuraj Singh Kansana | ||
| 14. | Badnawar | Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon | ||
| 15. | Mehgaon | OPS Bhadoria | ||
| 16. | Ambah | Kamalesh Jatav | ||
| 17. | Mungaoli | Brajendra Yadav | ||
| 18. | Pohari | Suresh Rathkheda Dhakad | ||
| 19. | Bhander | Raksha Santram Saroniya | ||
| 20. | Dimani | Girraj Dandotiya | ||
| 21. | Sumawali | Aidal Singh Kansana | ||
| 22. | Hatpipliya | Manoj Choudhary | ||
Outcome
A new government was formed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On 21 March 2020, in Delhi, all the 22 rebel Congress MLAs joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, in presence of Bharatiya Janata Party's national president Jagat Prakash Nadda. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dharmendra Pradhan, Narottam Mishra and many of the senior BJP leaders were also present.[3]
References
- "Jyotiraditya Scindia resigns from Congress, more than 20 party MLAs quit". The Economic Times. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
- Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) Tweeted: https://twitter.com/JM_Scindia/status/1237266942961967104?s=20
- "22 rebel Cong MLAs, whose resignation led to fall of Kamal Nath govt, join BJP". Live Mint.