Bhopal: MLAs supporting Kamal Nath gathered at his residence this morning, and proclaimed they have the numbers to beat back the effort of Jyotiraditya Scindia to dislodge the Madhya Pradesh chief minister.
Jyotiraditya Scindia's flock of MLAs are holed up in a resort in Bengaluru. He himself has met prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, and is thought to be certain to cross over to the BJP or lead a BJP-backed coup against Kamal Nath.
Kamal Nath groupie Arjun Singh, an MLA, said come March 16, the chief minister will survive.
"Congress and Kamal Nath's government will stay. You will see on 16th, numbers (of MLAs) will stay the same. Him (Jyotiraditya Scindia) leaving does not affect anything, the days of Rajas-Maharajas are long gone," Arjun Singh said.
Another MLA Narayan Singh Patta said the chief minister is in touch with the MLAs who are in Bengaluru. "There is no threat to the government. They may have been misled, that also is a possibility. Just wait and watch, everything will be clear soon."
Another MLA, Ashok Marskole added that there is no guarantee that the Bengaluru brigade of legislators will win an election again.
"We are confident, and the MLAs who resigned have realised their mistake. If they leave the Congress today, there is no guarantee that they will win the elections, they are not in a position to win the elections," said Dr Marskole.
MLA Kunal Chaudhary, on the other hand, appealed to the conscience of the party legislators and added that the party will definitely prove its majority in the House.
On Tuesday, Congress sent two of its leaders -- Sajjan Singh Verma and Govind Singh -- to Bengaluru in order to pacify some of the rebel MLAs who are lodged in a hotel there and who claimed to have resigned from the state Legislative Assembly.
