Page 8 - 15MAR2020E

column

MP’s Game of Thrones

gets saffron cover again

The stalemate over fragile political situation in Madhya Pradesh seems to be over with
Hard LIne Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as chief minister of the state for the fourth time, over
15 months after his government was voted out of power
anIL SIngH
ith Congress government March 26 by the Speaker amid coronavirus
led by chief minister Kamal apprehensions and this was followed by up-
Nath tendering resigna- roar in the assembly. In the wake of Congress
The columnist is tion even prior to facing the government being reduced to minority after
Executive Editor of W floor test as directed by the the resignation of 22 MLAs, the BJP demand-
News24 news Supreme Court, the stalemate over fragile ed floor test which was not approved by the
channel. The views political situation in Madhya Pradesh can be Speaker.
here expressed are the said to have been over temporarily and decks
author’s own were cleared for the BJP to stake its claim to BJP’s gamBit
form the next government after a hiatus of Admittedly, with the entry of Jyotiraditya
about 16 months. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who Scindia along with 22 MLAs, the BJP camp in
was sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon on MP is feeling jubilant with the prospects of
March 23, finally returned as chief minister of forming the next government. However, what
Madhya Pradesh for the fourth time, over 15 is interesting to watch is as to who will be the
months after his government was voted out chief minister. Undoubtedly speculations
of power. were rife about Shivraj Singh Chouhan to
For the past few weeks, the Kamal Nath be sworn as the chief minister for the fourth
government was grappling with a politi- term. Some experts had opined that BJP’s
cal crisis that had been engendered in the top brass has thus far disallowed emergence
wake of exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia. 22 MLAs,
including some holding ministerial posts in
the Congress government, owing allegiance
to Jyotiraditya Scindia, also resigned from
the Congress and declared their support for
the BJP; thereby, rendering the Kamal Nath
government in a minority.
Congress MLAs who declared their sup-
port for the BJP were taken to Karnataka
without brooking any delay where efforts by
the Congress leaders to contact them did not
succeed. These developments obtaining in
MP bear a parallel to what had happened in
Maharashtra and Karnataka where the in-
cumbents lost to their rivals. The BJP deserves
credit for setting a trend of overnight change
in the party in power at the state level that
has been witnessed in recent years in Goa
and some states of the North-East India, what
has been termed by an expert, as “signifying
emergence of a new political culture of ideo-
logical malleability in terms of the degree, if
not kind.”
The Budget Session of MP Assembly that
commenced on March 16 was adjourned till

8