In the light of the recent political turmoil in Madhya Pradesh, Section 144 has been imposed at Bhopal airport as the Madhya Pradesh legislators who extended their loyalty to former Congress bigwig Jyotiraditya Scindia are being flown in to meet the MP speaker. The lawmakers had resigned from their party along with Jyotiraditya Scindia and were camped in Bengaluru after submitting their resignation.
Interestingly, the name of the pilot who has been tasked with the responsibility of flying the MLAs from Bengaluru to Bhopal is ‘Digvijay Singh’.
The high-voltage political crisis in Madhya Pradesh deepened after 22 of the Congress MLAs, along with Jyotiraditya Scindia tendered their resignation on Tuesday. The following day, Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the saffron party in presence of the party president JP Nadda. Scindia also met with PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah before joining the BJP ranks.
The rebel MLAs had to travel back from Bengaluru to Bhopal after the Madhya Pradesh speaker issued a notice, asking them to appear before him by Friday and clarify whether they have quit voluntarily or under duress.
The acceptance of the resignation by the speaker holds profound significance on the continuity of Kamal Nath led government in Madhya Pradesh. If the speaker accepts the resignation of the rebel MLAs, the strength of the assembly will reduce to 206, with the Congress having 92 seats, and the BJP, having 107 seats. In this situation, BJP can easily cross the halfway mark of 104 for a majority, thus forcing the collapse of Kamal Nath-led government in the state.