Leader of India’s Madhya Pradesh to Resign Ahead of Confidence Vote
The resignation comes after weeks of political crisis when party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress to join the BJP.
(Bloomberg) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is set to form a government in the central state of Madhya Pradesh after several lawmakers of the ruling Congress party switched loyalties causing its 15-month-old state government to collapse.
The chief minister of the state, Kamal Nath offered his resignation on Friday ahead of a confidence vote in the state assembly. In a televised press conference, Nath accused the BJP of conspiring against his government.
The resignation follows weeks of political crisis that began brewing when senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party to join the BJP. Scindia took as many as 22 lawmakers with him. The move left the Nath’s government with a minority in the legislature.
Wresting power in Madhya Pradesh gives the BJP a much needed boost after a series of losses in recent state polls despite having won a landslide victory to a second term in federal elections last year. It failed to unseat the regional Aam Aadmi Party in capital Delhi in February. Modi’s party, in power at the nation level for a second straight time, also lost the richest state of Maharashtra and the mineral–rich eastern province Jharkhand last year.
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