By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: It was a sixer, it was a master stroke by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Karnataka avenged. BJP was stunned when Congress succeeded in maneuvering two BJP legislators and showed that the party commands comfortable majority. After the result of division on a absolutely non-controversial bill, the Congress numbers touched 122 in a house of 230.
In a rude shock to the BJP, basking in Karnataka success, two party MLAs voted for the Kamal Nath government during division of votes on the Criminal Law (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill 2019 on Wednesday. The Congress has called it ‘an answer to Karnataka episode’.
A total of 122 MLAs voted for the government including Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol of the BJP. In 230 member House, Congress has support of 121 MLAs including Speaker N P Prajapati, who did not take part in the voting.
Earlier in the day Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava had claimed that BJP can bring down the Nath government within 24 hours if it gets signal from its number one and two. Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan too had said that Nath was leading a minority government.
The Chief Minister, who was present in the House, retorted “The government will complete its tenure. Not a single Congress MLA is up for sale”. Turning to Bhargava, he said “Your number one and two are intelligent people that’s why they are not giving you signal”. He then challenged the BJP leaders “Let’s have a floor test today itself, if you want”. The exchange of word took place as House completed discussion on various amendment bills.
As the last bill was to be passed unanimously, Sanjeev Singh of BSP demanded division of votes. Bhargava and Chouhan objected stating that the entire opposition had supported the amendment. The LoP even got hands of Opposition members raised to express support for the bill. However as thr BSP MLA insisted on division of votes, the Speaker agreed. After this Speaker announced the result as 122 in favor of the bill and 0 in opposition. Soon, legislative affairs minister Govind Singh stood up and said that two BJP MLAs had voted in government’s favour. “This is our answer to Karnataka episode” said Singh. LoP claimed that some MLAs signed twice and signatures should be verified. He claimed that signatures of about 12 members are fake and should be verified in front of the Governor. The CM took the challenge again and said “let’s get the signature verified right now”. Later Speaker NP Prajpati announced adjournment of state assembly sine die.
The story of BJP MLA Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol coming out in support of Congress started after Lok Sabha elections. After clashes between Satna MP Ganesh Singh and Tripathi, it was clear that some major political change was on cards. The biggest challenge before BJP now is to keep its house intact. With Congress government coming strong, th MLAs who had quit Congress and joined BJP may also change course. Some BJP MLAs are businessmen who are facing losses because of change in government. These MLAs may shift their loyalty in times to come. Congress also needs to be careful after this development as BJP MLAs joining Congress has shocked not only the state BJP but also national president Amit Shan. Shah’s response to this shock is yet to come. The political tussle in state has now intensified and in coming days, the political temperature in the state may rise further.
Later addressing a press conference Kamal Nath said “For the last six months BJP has been branding my government as a minority one. They claimed that it would fall any day” Nath added “even today in the House LoP said one signal and the government would fall. I asked him to test strength on the floor of the House. It was then that I decided to settle the matter once for all” This division of votes was not for the Bill but to prove majority in the House. “Tripathi and Kol voted in our favour after hearing the voice of their conscience. Today we have proved support of 122 MLAs. They used to claim that 8-10 Congress MLAs are in our touch, where are they” said Kamal Nath.
A day before the Congress government showed that it enjoyed majority in the Vidhan Sabha, it ordered three crucial enquiries against the erstwhile, BJP Government.
The three enquires are 1- VYAPAM 2. Unauthorised expenditure running into several crores and 3. Hundreds of fake Bhoomi Pujans. Sticking to its pre-poll promise the Kamal Nath government announced a fresh probe into the VYAPAM scam that rocked the BJP government during Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s tenure. Chouhan said the government was free to probe ‘all matters related to VYAPAM including his family”.
CBI is already investigating the scam and has filed several charge sheets, but the parallel probe by the Congress government will ‘reopen all old cases” hinted legal affairs minister P C Sharma. “The extent of VYAPAM scam is much beyond the pre-medical test (that CBI is probing) it covers employment exams and recruitments that were left out in the previous investigations. The government will probe every aspect of the scam” he said
The government has also decided to probe the state public relations department’s involvement in the alleged Simhastha scam. Minister for law and public relations PC Sharma made this announcement while answering a question raised by Congress MLA Vinay Saxena during the question hour in the assembly. The investigation will focus on the Vichar Mahakubh Ninaura international convention on “Right way of Living’ which was addressed by PM Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhawat in May 2016. Ninaura village is located 11 kms from Ujjain and it was here that a three day international convention was held by the former BJP government.
The third enquiry relates to the inauguration and foundation laying of 156 fake projects during BJP regime in the state capital. Minister for urban development administration Jaivardahn Singh said that a matter regarding bhoomi pujan and inauguration of projects has been highlighted without work order and official tender process the government will probe into the same.
Raising the matter through a calling attention motion Congress MLA from Bargi, demanded inquiry into 156 inaugurations and foundation laying of projects in Bhopal. Funds were also declared for the project and huge expenses were made on the gala gathering during the inauguration but nothing was constructed even after a year. (IPA Service)
