Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress legislator Hardeep Singh Dang resigned from the post of member of Assembly on Thursday. The secretariat is yet to receive the resignation letter sent to Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati.
Over the past two days, the Congress leadership has accused the BJP of "kidnapping" a few of its MLAs, including Dang, and taking them away to either Bengaluru or Chikmagalur in Karnataka. This episode allegedly took place on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The other "missing" legislators are Bisahulal Singh, Raghuraj Kansana and Independent MLA Thakur Surendra Singh. The Congress claims that they have remained untraceable since the midnight of March 3. The family of Bisahulal Singh on Thursday also lodged a missing person's complaint at the TT Nagar Police Station here.
However, the Speaker said he has heard about Dang's resignation, but has not received it yet. "He has not tendered his resignation to me in person. When he submits the same to me, I will consider it as per the rules and take necessary action," Prajapati said.
Dang's resignation cannot be currently accepted as he is yet to meet him in person. "I heard about Dang’s resignation but as the MLA hasn’t met me in person, I wouldn't consider his resignation," Prajapati said in a statement.
The chief minister said he has received information about Dang's resignation. "I have not yet received any letter from him or discussed the matter in person. Until I meet him personally, making comments over it will not be appropriate," Nath said.
Immediately after the resignation letter was sent, the Congress also raised questions on its authenticity. Political experts also suggested that the letter will not be accepted by the Speaker as it wasn't written in the correct format.
Dang, who represented Mandsaur's Suwasra constituency in the Assembly, is reported to have been disgruntled with the party leadership after he was not offered a senior position or a ministerial berth.
In the resignation letter scripted on Dang’s official letterhead, the MLA alleged gross apathy and negligence in his own government and said he had been unable to work for his constituency since the Congress came to power. He claimed that ministers were not listening to him and his workers were required to make rounds of Bhopal to get even small work done.
I was the only MLA from Ujjain division in 2013 and am the only MLA from my parliamentary constituency presently, but was denied the due respect and ministerial berth, he wrote in the letter in Hindi.
While his family members said they were unaware of his whereabouts, Dang himself was not available for comments.
Earlier on Thursday, a local daily in Dang's constituency of Mandsaur carried an advertisement on his behalf expressing loyalty to the Congress.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge Deepak Babaria said that Dang was part of the group of MLAs forcibly abducted by the BJP. The BJP is reversing the public mandate, if adverse, everywhere in the country, he claimed.
However, state minister and son of Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh, Jaivardhan Singh, said all the 'missing' MLAs will return to the state soon.
"We are in touch with our four MLAs and they will return home shortly," he told reporters, adding their return date is "up to their wishes".
Some of the other MLAs who were also allegedly forcibly confined at a Gurgaon hotel were brought back on Wednesday afternoon. They included the Congress party's Aidal Singh Kansana, Kamlesh Jatav and Ranveer Jatav; the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Rambai Singh and Sanjiv Kushwah; and the Samajwadi Party's (SP) Rajesh Shukla ‘Babloo’. They were brought back to Bhopal on a special plane from Delhi along with senior Congress leaders, including ministers Jitu Patwari, Jaivardhan Singh and Tarun Bhanot. Most of the MLAs denied that they had been "abducted" by BJP leaders.
State Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said "operation Kamal (actions of CM Kamal Nath) had triumphed over the operation lotus (the alleged attempt by the BJP, whose symbol is lotus, to topple the government)". The crisis had blown over on Wednesday itself and there was no threat to the Congress government, she said, adding none of the legislators were unhappy with the state government.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in MP Assembly Gopal Bhargav said Dang has only expressed his anguish and pain in the letter after all-round anarchy in the Congress and its government.
(With inputs from PTI)
Comments
0 comment