‘Party United,’ Says BJP After its MLAs Back Cong in MP Assembly

MLAs Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol voted in favour of Congress government during voting on a bill on Wednesday.

BJP MLAs Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol on Wednesday voted in favour of the Congress government during voting on a bill in the Assembly.

(Photo: The Quint)

Even as two Madhya Pradesh BJP MLAs voted in favour of the Congress government during voting on a Bill in the state Assembly on Wednesday, 24 July, the state BJP leadership said that the party is “united” and that there’s no “groupism” in the state BJP.

According to reports on Wednesday, the two MLAs had been sent to an ‘undisclosed location’ by the Congress.

In a major blow to the BJP, MLAs Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol on Wednesday voted in favour of the Congress government during voting on a Bill in the Assembly.

Tripathi and Kol, both former Congressmen, termed their return to the party as ‘homecoming’, said they supported the seven-month-old Kamal Nath-led government, which enjoys a slender majority in the House, as they wanted to develop their respective Assembly constituency.

They will reportedly attend a dinner with Chief Minister Kamal Nath later in the day.

During the division of votes on the Criminal Law (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill 2019, a total of 122 MLAs voted in favour of the Congress government, which assumed office in December last year.

In the 230-member House, the ruling Congress has the support of 121 MLAs, including Speaker NP Prajapati, who did not take part in the voting. Besides the 120 MLAs of the Congress and its allies, two BJP MLAs also supported the Bill.

‘Want Development in Our Constituencies’

Later, talking to reporters, Tripathi (elected from Maihar) and Kol (Beohari) said they extended support to the Nath government because they want to develop their constituencies.

The BJP MLAs said this was their "ghar wapsi" (homecoming).

Earlier in the day, BJP leader and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that it wouldn’t be his party that caused the downfall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state, but Congress leaders themselves who have been “responsible for the fall of their governments”.

“We’ll not cause the fall of the government here (Madhya Pradesh). Congress leaders themselves have been responsible for the fall of their governments. There is an internal conflict in Congress, and support of BSP-SP, if something happens to that, then we can’t do anything [sic],” Chouhan had said.

BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in MP Gopal Bhargava, too had claimed in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly that if the party's top leadership ordered, the Kamal Nath government in the state can be toppled within 24 hours.

The statement prompted chief minister Nath to state that he was ready to face a floor test anytime.

Reacting to the voting, Chief Minister Kamal Nath said, “The BJP says daily that we are a minority government and one which could fall any day. However, during voting in the Assembly on criminal law amendment bill, two BJP MLAs voted in favour of our government.”

‘Party is United,’ Says BJP

Commenting on the two MLAs, state BJP chief Rakesh Singh said the party is “united” and there is no groupism.

Singh, the Lok Sabha MP from Jabalpur, rushed to Bhopal from Delhi on Wednesday after the BJP's central leadership took a dim view of two MLAs voting in favour of the bill moved by the Congress in the state Assembly.

“Everything is under control,” Singh told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier, after reaching Bhopal, Singh met Leader of the Opposition Gopal Bhargava and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to find out reasons behind the two MLAs backing the Congress-led government during the voting on the bill.

Singh is likely to apprise the BJP central leadership about the two MLAs’ action by Thursday evening, party sources said. He held talks separately with Bhargava and Chouhan “to know what went wrong and why the two MLAs voted for the Congress-backed bill”, a source told PTI.

Talking to reporters at the state BJP office in Bhopal, Singh said, “There is no groupism in the party and it is united. We did not seek division of votes on Wednesday.”

“Everything is under control. Everything is conducive for us. Nothing has happened," he asserted.

The BJP is reportedly in touch with Tripathi and Kol and wants to win them back and ensure they do not switch over to the ruling party, PTI reported, quoting sources. Tripathi and Kol reportedly met Chouhan two days back and lodged a protest with him, saying their voices were not being heard in the BJP.

Chouhan apparently assured the duo that their view points will be heard by the party.

However, on Wednesday, the two BJP MLAs voted in favour of the Criminal Law (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2019 when it was put to vote in the House.

The development in Madhya Pradesh comes a day after the Congress-JD(S) government fell in Karnataka, where the BJP is looking to form its government.

The BJP had narrowly lost power in Madhya Pradesh during the November 2018 assembly polls.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)