NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 11
Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday joined Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party president JP Nadda, a day after quitting the Congress party along with 22 Congress MLAs.
LIVE: Shri @JM_Scindia joins BJP in presence of BJP National President Shri @JPNadda. https://t.co/qO4pESzCX3
— BJP (@BJP4India) March 11, 2020
Scindia had ended his 18-year-old association with the Congress on Tuesday after meetings with Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Party president Sonia Gandhi had immediately expelled Scindia from the Congress for “anti-party activities”, soon after his resignation. The Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh has 114 Congress MLAs, four Independents, two BSP and one SP MLA.
Speculations were rife on Scindia aligning with BJP started going around after he met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence on Tuesday.
Hey @PMOIndia , while you were busy destabilising an elected Congress Govt, you may have missed noticing the 35% crash in global oil prices. Could you please pass on the benefit to Indians by slashing #petrol prices to under 60₹ per litre? Will help boost the stalled economy.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 11, 2020
On Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of “destabilising” the elected government in Madhya Pradesh. He tweeted that while Modi was busy “destabilising the Congress government, the Prime Minister may have missed the 35% crash in global oil prices.”
If the resignations of the 22 MLAs are accepted, the strength of the Assembly will fall to 206. The Congress, on its own, will then be left with 92 seats while the BJP has 107 seats with the majority mark being 104.
Meanwhile, Nath remains confident that his government will survive. “There is nothing to worry about. We will prove our majority,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Congress is shifting its 92 MLAs to Jaipur to keep the flock together and also aiming to block further poaching by BJP
The MLAs have left for Bhopal airport and will fly to Jaipur. “We are going to take our 92 MLAs and those supporting our Madhya Pradesh government to a hotel,” a senior Congress leader had told.
BJP has, meanwhile, shifted its MLAs to a hotel in Gurugram, local reports said.
Scandia betrayed the trust of people, slams Ashok Gehlot
Joining hands with BJP in a time of national crisis speaks volumes about a leaders self-indulgent political ambitions. Especially when the BJP ruining the economy, democratic institutions, social fabric and as well the Judiciary.
1/2— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) March 10, 2020
Several party leaders hit out at Scindia for resigning from the Congress. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused him of betraying the trust of people and ideology. He tweeted:
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that ideology did not matter to Scindia. He said that “political convenience” and “personal ambition” played a major part in his decision to resign from the party.
He also alleged that some sort of “allurement and enticement” offered by the BJP had convinced Scindia to change his colour.