Kamal Nath Govt In Madhya Pradesh On The Verge Of Collapse? Jyotiraditya Scindia, 17 Congress MLAs ‘Untraceable’   

The 15-month-old Congress government in Madhya Pradesh led by Kamal Nath, is teetering on the brink of a collapse as MLAs, including some ministers, close to former MP Jyotiraditya Scindia were Monday flown to BJP-ruled Karnataka by a chartered flight from Delhi.

Reports have emerged that senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and at least 17 MLAs who are believed to be supporting him suddenly became 'incommunicado' on Monday ahead of the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

According to airport sources in Delhi, about 10 persons, including Bankim Silawat, the son of Congress Minister Tulsi Silawat, and Scindia's close aide Purushottam Parashar, flew from the national capital to Bengaluru in a Falcon 2000 aircraft.

A source said that the chartered flight left from Delhi at 8 a.m. and reached Bengaluru by 10.40 a.m.

Apart from the two close Scindia associates, the others were Rajyawardhan Singh, Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Giriraj, Raksha Sinoriya, Jaswant Jatav, Suresh Dhakad, Jajpal Singh and Brijendra Yadav.

Attempt to contact the MLAs did not succeed as they switched off their mobiles.

Asked about who booked the flight, the airport source refused to share any details.

The shocker for the Madhya Pradesh government comes on a day when Chief Minister Kamal Nath met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi and briefed her about the current political situation in the state following the last week's attempt to topple the government.

The party witnessed witnessed a political slugfest over the last few weeks, giving a scare to the Congress state government.

Scindia and Nath have fallen out over the post of the state Congress president, which is currently held by the chief minister.

Last week, 10 MLAs had gone 'missing' but eight of them have returned to the state, the latest being Congress' Bisahu Lal Singh, who met Kamal Nath in Bhopal on Sunday, after returning from Bengaluru.

Two MLAs, Raghuraj Singh Kansana and Hardeep Singh Dang, have still not been traced. Dang had sent his resignation to the Speaker and Kamal Nath.

Meanwhile, three rebel BJP MLAs met Chief Minister Kamal Nath late on Thursday as two of them have openly revolted but the third one, Sanjay Tripathi, has said he is not leaving the BJP.

(With Inputs From IANS)