New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh governor has asked assembly speaker N.P. Prajapati to take up the no-confidence motion moved by the BJP against him on a priority basis when the session is convened.
According to a report in the Indian Express, governor Lalji Tandon, following a complaint by the BJP against Prajapati, has suggested that the speaker quit his post and abide by the tradition that requires a speaker to resign if the party that had chosen him loses power.
“Until the no confidence motion is decided by the house, I expect you to work in accordance with the constitution, assembly rules and morality by studying the legality of every subject,” governor Lalji Tandon said in a letter to Prajapati, asking him to take up the motion when the session is convened.
“As the action on no-confidence motion against you is the job of the legislature, therefore after convening the session necessary action should be taken on this proposal on priority. Until then the Principal Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, will perform daily work on your direction,” the governor wrote.
The speaker had adjourned the assembly sine die after chief minister Kamal Nath resigned before facing a trust vote on Friday.
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The dispute is in connection with the resignation letter sent by BJP MLA Sharad Kol to the speaker on March 6. Kol has claimed that he sent another letter to the speaker on March 16, requesting him not to accept his resignation but the speaker has insisted that he accepted the resignation because he did not receive any other letter and the legislator did not meet him in person either.
A BJP delegation on Saturday led by former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan met the governor and later told reporters that Kol was forced to resign by the Congress. “Since he took back his resignation before it was accepted, the speaker shouldn’t go ahead with the process of accepting it,” he said.
“He went to the Governor’s house too and stated that he had resigned under pressure and his resignation should not be accepted. It is unfortunate that the Speaker who should be impartial is being partisan,” Chouhan said.
On earlier occasions, Kol had praised the “pro-poor” policies of the Kamal Nath government and had voted in favour of a Congress Bill during the previous budget session.
On Friday, the BJP asked the governor to intervene in the dispute over Kol’s resignation. “At the moment there is no leader of house and the house is not functional and the speaker should not take any policy decision that harms or protects someone’s interests. Yet, politically motivated decisions are being taken,’’ Gopal Bhargava, leader of the opposition, said in a complaint and also stated that a no-confidence motion had been submitted against the speaker but he had chosen not to act on it.
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The BJP also demanded that a pro-tem speaker be appointed to ensure “constitutional values and democratic traditions’’ are followed and accused the speaker of wrongfully accepting Kol’s resignation.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the BJP has not yet staked a claim to form a new government in the state after Kamal Nath resigned because there is a lack of consensus on who should become the next chief minister. BJP leaders have claimed that this disagreement is the main reason why a party meeting has not been held so far.