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BJP concedes defeat; Chouhan announces resignation

Last Updated 12 December 2018, 14:55 IST

Minutes after Mayawati announced her support to Congress, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday announced his resignation and made it clear that BJP will not stake a claim to form a government in the state.

Emerging after a meeting with senior party leaders in Bhopal, Chouhan said that though the BJP has got a bigger percentage of votes than Congress in the assembly polls, it could not muster the numbers to form government and bow before the numerical strength on the other side.

This was in sharp contrast to the tweet by BJP chief Rakesh Singh at 1 AM in which he had said that Congress does not have the mandate and many independents and others are in touch with the BJP. He had also announced that BJP will meet the Governor on Wednesday.

However, the meeting did take place but to submit the resignation of Chief Minister Chouhan.

Chouhan’s announcement that appeared to be a fait accompli, came minutes after the BSP chief announced support of her two MLAs to Congress for government formation in Madhya Pradesh "to checkmate the BJP," which she said the primary reason why her party contested elections in the state.

SP chief and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also announced on Twitter that Samajwadi Party will support Congress in forming the government in Madhya Pradesh.

Congress will to go to meet Governor at 12 pm and will elect its CM face in a party meeting at 4 PM.

Congress, which has already won 114 of 230 assembly seats in a nail-biting electoral contest in Madhya Pradesh can now breathe easy as Samajwadi Party, which has won one seat has also announced its intent to support the Congress bid to power.

Besides, all the four independents are either Congress rebels or were somehow connected with the party. BJP won 109 seats and even with the support of four independents, it would have been three seats short of a simple majority.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accepting people's verdict in all the states including Madhya Pradesh, there was a view that the ruling party may not like to risk any dent in its image by dabbling in uncertainty just six months before the next general elections.

“We accept the people’s mandate with humility. I thank the people of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for giving us the opportunity to serve these states…”, Modi said.

And the experience of Karnataka is still fresh, where it could not muster numbers despite being the single largest party as the Congress and the JD(S) came together quickly.

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(Published 12 December 2018, 06:19 IST)

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