BJP vice-president and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday distanced the party from the upheaval in embattled Congress government by stating it was its internal matter.
Terming the BJP legislature party meeting here on Tuesday a “routine affair”, Mr. Singh, on reaching Bhopal in the morning from New Delhi where he met Home Minister Amit Shah, said, “They know their issues better. What do we have to do with this?”
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Chief Minister for 15 years before Congress stormed to power in December 2018, Mr. Singh has drawn accusations from Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Digivijaya Singh who hinted at his role in purportedly buying over lawmakers backing the government in a bid to subvert it last week.
Accompanying him, Narottam Mishra, a former BJP Minister, described the resignations by the 16 Cabinet Ministers as diversionary tactics of the Congress. “I don’t think they can save themselves now. As per my political acumen, the government is gone,” he said.
On being asked if the BJP would welcome estranged Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia within the party fold if he turned towards it, Mr. Mishra said, “I don’t have any information about his joining. Still, this is the BJP, and we welcome with an open heart anyone who wants to join.”
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Last evening, 11 MLAs and six Ministers from the Gwalior-Chambal belt, a stronghold of Mr. Scindia, who had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Guna, snapped contact with the State Congress leadership. Coming days after the Congress leaders claimed to have rescued six MLAs from the “BJP’s clutches” at a hotel in Haryana, the development sent jitters across the Congress, with Chief Minister Kamal Nath cutting short his New Delhi visit to return here.
Taking to verse while referring to the incommunicado lawmakers, Mr. Mishra said: “Kuch to majbooriya rahi hongi, yuh hi koi bewafa nahi hota” (There must be some compulsion, just like that no one becomes disloyal)
As reported earlier by The Hindu , a whistleblower last week released a string of videos purportedly showing Mr. Mishra striking a deal with a Congress MLA and explaining to him how the government would be subverted. Mr. Mishra had questioned the veracity of the videos.
Meanwhile, the Congress legislature party will also meet here on Tuesday, to dwell on the embattled government, and plan reconstitution of the Cabinet, requested for by the Ministers who had resigned.