Speaker ends membership of six ex-ministers

March 14, 2020
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati on Saturday terminated the membership of Tulsiram Silawat, Pradyumn Singh Tomar, Govind Singh Rajput, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Imarti Devi and Prabhuram Chaudhary from the House.

Earlier, the Governor had removed them from the ministry on the advice of the Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Friday.

The Speaker said that he had called the six MLAs to meet him personally for verification of the resignations. Since they have not reported to him so far their membership has been terminated.

The strength of the House is now reduced from 228 to 222. The Congress strength in the House will now be reduced to 108 and with the support of four independents and two BSP and one SP MLAs the Congress still has a majority in the House while the BJP with 107 will have to wait to get there.

Experts consider it to be a masterstroke as it would send a strong message to the MLAs who have grossly underestimating the gravity of the matter. The fence sitters who still don’t wish to all the way by joining the BJP may be losing their membership and indirectly be benefiting the BJP earn the majority at their expense.

Prajapati had sent notices to rebel MLAs to appear before him by March 15. Earlier, Prajapati called all 22 MLAs on three different dates. Now these MLAs can meet him till 5 p.m. on March 15.

However, some members feel the government could postpone the floor test if all MLAs do not appear before the Speaker. The government can also move the Supreme Court. According to the rule, all legislators are required to appear before the Speaker.

On Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Govind Singh requested the Speaker to get a detailed inquiry conducted into the resignations of the 19 MLAs. He said that the MLAs should asked under what circumstances they resigned. If they were not voluntary, they should be cancelled.

The 19 Congress MLAs held captive at a resort in Bengaluru had sent their resignations to the speaker through BJP MLA Bhupendra Singh. Three more had resigned later.

Six of the MLAs were expected to reach Bhopal on Friday after the assembly speaker issued a notice, but they kept the Speaker waiting all day. The second batch of seven MLAs was to reach on Saturday BJP President JP Nadda went to meet the MLAs in Bengaluru.

The MLAs are in touch with Nadda. On March 12, Kamal Nath government minister Jeetu Patwari also reached Bengaluru to meet the legislators, but they were not allowed to meet them. IANS