Most of 19 rebel Cong MLAs to reach Bhopal from Bengaluru

Most of the 19 rebel Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh, including six ministers, have left Bengaluru, where they had been camping, and are expected to reach Bhopal by Friday evening, sources said.

Twenty-two Congress legislators in the state resigned after senior party leader and former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress earlier this week. Nineteen of them have been camping in Bengaluru.

Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati had issued notices to the 22 Congress MLAs, asking them to appear before him and clarify whether they have quit voluntarily or under pressure.

"Most of the 19 MLAs, including six ministers, have left Bengaluru where they were staying. They are flying from Bengaluru and are expected to reach here by evening," a Scindia loyalist told PTI.

"On their arrival, the six ministers will meet the speaker, who had summoned them to verify their resignations," he said.

The six ministers are- Tulsi Silavat, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Govind Singh Rajput, Pradyumna Singh Tomar, Prabhuram Choudhary and Imarti Devi.

A legislature official said on Friday that the speaker has asked seven of the rebel MLAs to appear before him on Saturday and the remaining ones on Sunday in order to verify their resignations.

"The speaker will also seek to know that whether they have resigned voluntarily or under duress as the Congress has alleged that they had been held hostage," he said.

Meanwhile, security at the Bhopal airport has been beefed up in view of the scheduled arrival of the legislators.

Heavy police force has also been deployed at the residence of the speaker in Char Imli locality here.

The 15-month-old Kamal Nath-led government has been facing deep crisis following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs after Scindia quit the party on Tuesday. He joined the BJP a day later.

The Congress has a wafer thin majority in the 228- member Assembly. Before the rebellion, its tally was 114.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Kamal Nath met state Governor Lalji Tandon and expressed his government's readiness for a floor test in the Assembly.

Nath also submitted a letter to him accusing the BJP of being involved in horse-trading and holding the Congress MLAs in captivity.