MP House agenda skips mention of floor test; security in place for 22 MLAs

Holding of a floor test on Monday, as directed by Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon, found no mention in the List of Business (LoB) issued by the state Assembly secretariat on Sunday night.

The LoB has mentioned only about the Governor's customary address on the first day of the Budget session and the motion of thanks.

The principal secretary of the Legislative Assembly could not be reached for his reaction despite repeated attempts.

However, former minister and an expert on legislative matters, Choudhary Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi told PTI: "Governor is the head of the state while Speaker is the head of the Assembly, who has all powers vested in him. A speaker works as per his discretion and according to the rules and procedures of the House".

On Saturday late night, the governor directed Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek a floor test, four days after the Congress-led government was pushed to the brink following resignation of 22 MLAs, who are believed to be loyalists of former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has since joined the BJP.

Chaturvedi opined that the governor should not have ordered a floor test without physically verifying the resignations of the 22 MLAs.

On Tuesday, 19 MLAs had e-mailed their resignations to the governor.

"How can the governor be confident that the letters of these MLAs are genuine and are not written under any pressure," he asked.

"Moreover, the governor's secretariat has also not given its proper advise on the matter. If any resignation is accepted in this manner, then tomorrow a Naxalite can kidnap a legislator and on gun-point force him to write his resignation letter," Chaturvedi said.

"Before writing a letter to the CM directing him to seek a trust vote, the governor should have asked the Assembly's secretariat to provide him the list of MLAs belonging to each political party and acted accordingly, or he should have directed the Opposition party to parade the MLAs," he said.

Meanwhile, former principal secretary of the Assembly, Bhagwan Dev Israni said the state Assembly can always come out with the supplementary business list in the night or even in the morning of a session.

Israni said that the governor has directed the chief minister and the Assembly under Article 175(2) of the Constitution to seek the trust vote.

"However, it is the discretion of the speaker to conduct the proceedings," he said.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava rushed to meet the governor on Sunday night, after the LoB was released.

"The Congress government wants to evade the floor test. This is unconstitutional as the governor has issued clear directives that the Kamal Nath should seek trust vote just after his (governor's) address (to the House) on Monday.

"We have conveyed to the governor that the agenda of the state Assembly for Monday doesn't include this (holding of floor test), and he assured me that a suitable action will be taken," Bhargava added.

Heavy security in place for 22 MLAs who resigned

Minister Bala Bachchan on Sunday said that security arrangements have been made for 22 MLAs.

"The state government has prepared heavy security arrangements for its 22 MLAs, who have given their resignation," Bachchan told reporters after coming out from a meeting with Chief Minister Nath.

When asked if the floor test will happen as per the schedule, he said: "It will be seen and done when the time demands."

He also said: "In today's meeting with the Chief Minister, discussions were held to ensure that tomorrow's (March 16) Budget Session runs smoothly."

The meeting was attended by more than 100 Congress MLAs, the minister added.