Victory of BJP MLA in Lok Sabha poll brings relief for Congress in Madhya Pradesh

In an interesting case, the BJP’s victory in Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh has proved to be a boon for the Congress government in the state which was facing the challenge of floor test as demanded by the BJP.

The BJP MLA from Ratlam assembly seat, GS Damor has won the Lok Sabha election from Ratlam constituency, and with that, the power equation in Madhya Pradesh assembly has shifted towards the Congress. If Damor resigns as MLA, the strength of the assembly would drop to 229 -- at least for six months until by-elections take place.

In such a situation. the Congress, which has a strength of 115 in the House — including mining minister Prakash Jaiswal, who was elected as an Independent but joined the party after being inducted in the cabinet — would have absolute majority in the House. It would not require any outside support to prove its numbers.

In the 230-seated assembly election, held last year in November, the Congress won 114 seats and the BJP, which was ruling the state for last 15 years secured 109 seats giving Congress a chance to form government with the support of 2 BSP, 2 independent and one SP MLA.

Former Speaker and BJP leader Sitasharan Sharma and former principal secretary Bhagwandas Israni agreed that in the 229-members House, Congress has absolute majority now.

Sharma, when asked if the Congress will be in majority in the House if Damor resigns, said, “Yes, you are right. I had not thought of it. Once Damor resigns, Congress will have absolute majority in the House because majority is calculated in terms of number of the MLAs present in the House. With its strength at 229, 115 will be the majority mark, which the Congress has.”

Former Speaker and BJP leader Sitasharan Sharma, however, said that BJP was never pinning its hopes on defection or horse trading to reduce the Kamal Nath government to a minority.

Leader of Opposition, Gopal Bhargava, who has been claiming that the Kamal Nath government’s days are numbered, refused to be swayed. “Let them have majority, we are not in a hurry,” he said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Kamal Nath and former CM Digviay Singh had claimed that the BJP is trying to topple the government through horse trading and offering crores to their MLAs.

Former principal secretary, MP assembly secretariat, Bhagwandas Israni, concurred with Dr Sharma. “Yes, once the House is reduced to 229, Congress will not need outside support. If someone helps them, it’s good but their government will not fall even if all the MLAs supporting the government from outside withdraw support,” he said.

Congress media cell in-charge, Shobha Oza said: “Yes, you are right. But why 115? We have been saying that we have support of 121 MLAs and we stick to it. We have proved this four times on the floor of the House and we can do it any time.”