SC to hear BJP plea today as MP defers floor test as ‘virus reprieve’

The political drama surrounding the confidence test of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Monday reached the Supreme Court, which decided to hear on Tuesday the plea of the BJP to order floor test within 12 hours.

The BJP moved the SC after Speaker NP Prajapati ignored the direction of Governor Lalji Tandon to hold the floor test on Monday, and instead adjourned the House till March 26 in wake of the coronavirus epidemic.

Late on Monday, Nath met the Governor after the latter issued a fresh direction to the CM to hold floor test on Tuesday. The CM later claimed his Government enjoys majority, and ruled out holding a floor test in the Assembly as demanded by the BJP. Nath also dared the Opposition party to table a no-confidence motion against his 15-month-old Congress Government if they wanted to test its strength in the House.

Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta will hear the BJP’s plea filed former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. After parading the MLAs before the Governor, Chouhan told the media the State Government has lost majority and has no right to remain in power.

Earlier Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Govind Singh raised coronavirus threat to seek to defer the confidence motion. After finishing his customary address to the Assembly, Tandon left the House, asking the MLAs to “respect the House” and “follow the constitution”.