Move no confidence motion if you wish: Kamal Nath to BJP

Bhopal: A day after the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka, Congress and BJP got into a scuffle in Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, after which Chief Minister Kamal Nath said that if needed, the opposition can move no confidence motion.

Speaking in the Assembly, the Chief Minister, while pointing to his party MLAs, said, "None of the MLAs sitting here are for sale. Kamal Nath's government will run for five years in full force."

In reply, BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava said if directed by his party's top brass, the government won't last even for 24 hours.

"Hamare oopar wale number 1 ya number 2 ka aadesh hua to 24 ghante bhi aapki sarkar nahi chalegi (If there will be an order from number 1 and number 2 above us, then you government won't even last for 24 hours)," he said.

"Your number 1 and number 2 are intelligent, that's why they are not giving an order. If you wish, you can move no confidence motion (Aapke oopar wale number 1 aur 2 samajhdar hain, isliye aadesh nahi de rahe hain. Aap chahen to avishwas prastaav le aayen," Nath retorted.

Backing his ally, BSP leader Rambai Govind Singh chipped in and said the Kamal Nath-led state government will be as stable as the foot of Angad from the epic Ramayana.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress-led coalition currently has 121 seats out of a total 230 with support from Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and four independent candidates. The halfway mark is 115.

On Tuesday, the confidence motion moved by outgoing Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy got 99 votes as against 105 of the Opposition leading to its defeat.

This brought an end to the 12-day high-voltage political drama which had begun in Karnataka with the resignation of over a dozen rebel MLAs to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.