BJP takes one more step towards freedom from dependency on Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters

One more Congress MLA fell into the BJP net on Thursday as the ruling party’s poaching spree continues in pursuit of the goal to ensure the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government’s survival minus Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters. Narayan Patel, the MLA from Mandhta in Khandwa district, is the third opposition lawmaker to defect to the BJP in last 12 days. Earlier this month, Congress MLAs from Bada Malahara (Bundelkhand) Pradumn Singh Lodhi and Nepanagar (Nimar region) Sumitra Devi Kasdekar quit membership of the assembly to join the BJP.

With the latest resignation, 27 assembly seats have fallen vacant. Of these, 22 vacancies were caused due to en masse resignations of Scindia supporters in March which culminated into fall of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government. Two seats were already vacant owing to the death of a Congress and a BJP MLA. The Congress number has reduced to 89 in the 230-strong state assembly whereas BJP has 107 MLAs. The ruling party needs only nine more seats to attain a majority.

Hours after the pro-tem speaker Rameshwar Sharma accepted his resignation, the turncoat MLA Narayan Patel took membership of the BJP at the party headquarters in front of the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Many more Congress MLAs are said to be in touch with the BJP and could resign soon.

The BJP is reportedly aiming to engineer defection of at least 10 Congress MLAs who are not aligned to Scindia. The goal is to ensure the survival of the government post the coming by-elections in the event of the 19 Scindia supporters losing in their seats.

It is the BJP’s plan-B which the party has chalked out following internal assessment that most of the Scindia supporters might be defeated in the by-elections. BJP grassroots workers were said to be already annoyed over the prospect of having to support defectors in the by-elections. Then Jyotiraditya Scindia’s success in getting 11 of his supporters inducted in the Shivraj Singh cabinet at the expense of the party old guards further fuelled the BJP workers’ fury against the turncoat politician who is now Rajya Sabha member.