Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon on Friday accepted the resignation of Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
Nath had submitted his resignation to the governor at the Raj Bhawan here around 1 pm on Friday.
“The governor accepted the resignation of Kamal Nath and asked him to continue as the caretaker chief minister till the new CM takes charge,” a Raj Bhawan official told PTI.
BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia termed Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s resignation as people’s victory in Madhya Pradesh.
“However, the (Kamal Nath-led) government had digressed from that path,” Scindia tweeted. Truth has prevailed, he added.
“I have always professed and practised ethical politics and so I think it’s time for me to quit. I’m going to submit my resignation as CM,” said Nath at a press conference at CM House in Bhopal.
During his address to the press CM Kamal Nath leveled various charges against the BJP led Government at the Centre that they are murdering the democracy by not respecting to the will of the people and also that they are engaged in horse trading. He also said that the BJP conspired against the democratically elected Government of Madhya Pradesh by acting in connivance with the 22 MLAs of the Maharaja.
The Congress party made last mile efforts to reach to the MLAs held in the Bengaluru resort to try and connivance them to join the flock again but all efforts failed eventually. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today conceded defeat by saying that they don’t have numbers in their favour to sail through the floor test and continue to be in the government.
Kamal Nath’s fate was sealed and it became clear when on Thursday night, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker N K Prajapati accepted resignation of 16 Scindia-loyal MLAs who have been staying in Bengaluru. With this the strength of the Congress party in the House was reduced to 92 MLAs. The House strength too came down to 206 from 230. The BJP has 106 MLAs. A BJP MLA from Maihar, Narayan Tripathi has declared that he would vote for Congress. The Congress has the support of four independent legislators, one SP and two BSP MLAs. The floor test rang down the curtain over the 18-day political drama in the State.
Kamal Nath took oath as the Chief Minister on December 17 last year. There have been many hurdles before him during the past 15 months. The biggest one has, however, cropped up after Jyotiraditya Scindia’s crossover to the saffron party and resignation of 22 legislators of his faction