The floor test of the Kamal Nath government inMadhya Pradesh will be held at 2 pm on Friday, announced the assemblysecretariat after the Supreme Court set a deadline of 5 pm while responding toa petition filed by BJP that wanted an immediate resolution of the issue.
The ruling Congress in the state has been on thebrink of collapse since last week after Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 22 loyal legislatorshave resigned from the party and joined BJP.
The court, while ordering the session to bereconvened on March 20 said that there will be only one agenda- whether thegovernment enjoys strength. The state of uncertainty in Madhya Pradesh shouldbe effectively resolved by a floor test.
The Chief Minister, whose government had awafer-thin majority, has been insisting that he has the numbers. But the 10-dayadjournment of the assembly, which reconvened on Monday for the budget session,prompted the BJP to take the case to the Supreme Court.
The BJP has contended that the government wasdelaying the trust vote in the name of coronavirus.
The Congress and the BJP had locked horns in court on Monday – following a power struggle in the state that has been going on for weeks. Dushyant Dave, who appeared for the Congress, had hit out at Governor Lalji Tandon, who had asked the Speaker for a floor test. Calling the Governor's action "unconstitutional," he had accused him of constitutional impropriety.
On Thursday, the court said the Governor was rightin stepping in when the assembly was adjourned.
Following the verdict, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, theBJP's three-time Chief Minister from the state, tweeted, "SatyamevJayate" – meaning "Truth shall prevail".
